4 In 1 To The Power of Infinity
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: Sequel to 4 In 1. Follows Harry and his friends as they travel through the Mirror of the Ancients to other universes in efforts to complete their training before it's too late. First Stop: Mahou Mo Ken by Enterprise1701 d.
1. Introductions

Title: 4 In 1 to the power of ∞ (Infinity)

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowlings and company. All the fanfics that will be crossed over herein are the intellectual property of the various authors that I get actual permission from, and they will be given due credit and immense gratitude at the head of each chapter where there story is intermingled.

Summary: Finding that things were worse than they appeared, Harry has taken his friends on a reality-spanning training journey in hopes of increasing their skills and powers in time to save their home reality. MULTI-Crossover!

First up to bat, my very good friend Enterprise1701-d and his fanfic Mahou mo Ken!

Story:

_Previously in _4 in 1_:_

"_I'm sorry, you're what?" young Harry Potter, just turned 11 and recently discovered wizard and student of Hogwarts, exclaimed at the strange man's bold proclamation._

"_I'm from the future," he repeated._

"_You're from the future?" Harry asked again._

"_Well, sort of," Joshua shrugged and turned to lean against the white picket fence. "It's actually more complicated than that. I'm from the past too. And not like last week the past, but like several centuries the past.__ And on top of that, I'm from several centuries in the future as well. But for the simple fact of the matter, I know things. Things that are going to happen to you. To the world. To everybody and everything."_

"_The man's name was Joshua, but what's important about him is that he is a Time Wizard. When I was eleven years old, he visited me one night while my Aunt and Uncle were asleep, and explained some things, and then he gave me a choice. I accepted his offer. And here's where things go beyond what any of us learned at Hogwarts. He split me in two."_

"_I don't mean he cut me in two, I mean he split me in two," continued Harry before any of them could jump to the wrong conclusions. "Where there was once one Harry Potter, now there were two. Both completely identical down to... well down to the very last detail. Memories, bodies, scar, even magic. Well, actually, my magic was exactly halved but since I had no training in using magic at that point it really made no difference."_

"_One was left behind to live the life of Harry Potter, go to Hogwarts, face and fight Voldemort over the years and is the person that you all grew up knowing. The other was taken with Joshua to a different world. And I don't mean like the muggle world or the world of the Elves. A Pocket Dimension that was in turn connected to various other Realms, and that Harry Potter was trained from the age of 11 to the age of 16 in the practice and use of Battle Magic. Two weeks ago, that Harry Potter and Joshua the Time Wizard popped into the room of this world's Harry Potter, and at exactly midnight of that night, they were put back together. Into me. The real Harry Potter."_

"_So... you're not our Harry?" asked Ron, confused._

_Snorting out a laugh, Harry shook his head. "I am Ron. I am 'your' Harry, but I'm also more than that. I'm like Harry Plus. I know everything that both of the Harry's did like I did it myself, and from my point of view, I did. I'm still your Harry Potter, just with some extra stuff thrown in. Good stuff, I promise."_

_They stared at each other for a full minute after they'd all reached the top of the hill. While they stood there staring, Harry observed the other and tried to figure out what was going on before he tried to do or say anything that might make him look foolish. Joshua had trained him to be observant and to use his observations to his advantage rather than simply react, so that's what he did._

_This Harry Potter did not have a scar._

_This was Harry Potter._

_This Harry Potter was a part of the current Harry Potter._

_This Harry Potter was the same age as the current Harry Potter._

_All of this leads to only a single, logical conclusion. Joshua had split Harry Potter in two, long before his eleventh birthday. Joshua had split Harry Potter in two before, or at least by his first birthday! And then he'd left one behind to have his parents killed by Voldemort and to survive the Killing curse while harboring a shred of the murderer's soul and magic within him for seventeen years and to be raised by the Dursleys for eleven and to then be split in twain once again. This other Harry Potter, more than likely, had experienced the same splitting upon his eleventh birthday and had obviously been reunited with that part of him just a few weeks prior to this. And now Joshua was finishing the bargain that had been struck, and he was putting all the parts back together again._

_Harry nodded in understanding towards Harry, then both looked over at Joshua, who shrugged with a sheepish expression on his face. "This has always been about your choice Harry. After you accepted my offer, the first time in Little Whining, that created an alternate timeline, basically the universe split on that decision. One where you said no, I cast a memory charm and you never so much as guessed that anything happened and you remained whole and were split neither when you were a baby, nor when you turned eleven. And then this timeline, where you said yes. And here we are. If you chose to, you both could even say to hell with this and not fuse, saying you're both happier as individuals if you want. Again, it's your choice."_

"_So that's why..." both Harry's said at once._

"_That's why the emphasis, when I trained the halves that I split when you were eleven, on how important free will is and that there is nothing more important than being allowed to make your own choice. True, I did kind of manipulate you all into trusting me and how I didn't outline my overall plan to you, not that it's much of a plan, but first and foremost I made it your choice to accept my offer, with the understanding of the consequences of your decisions." Both Harry's nodded in understanding at that._

"_And to clear up any confusion about what it is that you all know, this guy here," he pointed at the Harry that had spent the past week with the Weasleys and a few weeks with the Dursleys before that, "Is the Harry that was left behind and was raised in England and trained at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, combined with the Harry that I took and trained to be a warrior and is a Master-Rank Battle Mage."_

"_And this Harry," he pointed at the un-scarred Potter, "is the Harry that I split from baby Harry who was never struck by Voldemort's curse, nor saw his parents murdered before his eyes, and was left behind on the doorstep of Winding Circle to be raised as a mage of that world. When he turned eleven, one stayed behind to achieve the full ranks of both Academic and Ambient mages, and the other I took to another pocket dimension, where I trained him in what you might like to think of as Magical Espionage. In laymen terms, where you are Wizard and Warrior, he is Mage and Spy. And we're about outta time," he finished by glancing up at the stars._

_Both Harry's looked up at the same moment and recognized the unusual alignment of constellations in the heavens at the moment. Symmetrically aligned into a crest of four side by side; Ursa Minor, Aquila, Leo, and Draco. At the stroke of midnight, they became perfectly aligned, and Joshua gave the pair a nod._

"_This is it," W/W Harry said to the other._

"_I'm looking forward to it," M/S Harry returned with a grin._

_Nodding back at the Time Wizard, they simply smiled at each other, and then stepped forward and gave the other a hug. It had been a long time, but they were finally, all back together again._

_The explosion of light and sound made the first fusion seem like a firecracker next to a Type 1A Supernova, and for a few precious moments, midnight in England became high noon._

"_You knew this was coming, and we could've slipped away in the confusion of earlier, but I knew he would be coming directly here, and I couldn't let your family suffer just for putting me up for a week." Harry sighed and sat down so he was facing everyone still in the room. "The Death Eaters are the Ministry now. We can't afford to hide in places that are obvious anymore. We need to go underground. And yes, we. Ron and Hermione's names are synonymous with my own, and this last year at Hogwarts, Ginny and I were openly dating each other. If I disappear on my own and leave them behind, they'll be targeted and will disappear behind Ministry bureaucracy and into a Death Eater's dungeon somewhere. I'm not going to let that happen."_

"_I'm going to stop this. I'm going to stop him. But before I can do that, I need to free the Ministry, and I can't do that legitimately anymore. The coming months are going to be hard on everybody," he gave a meaningful look at the newlyweds. "Most likely, Gringotts, being under Goblin control, won't be too adversely affected. The Ministry still needs its gold, and the goblins all control that, so they won't risk too much in angering them. Still... it's not guaranteed protection."_

"_Mr. Weasley, Fred and George have come up with a way of clearing Ron for the year, and I've left their... plan intact. Ministry Officials, Truant Officers for lack of a better term, will be showing up before too long. Before they do, I'll have a plan in place for Ginny as well, so she won't be missed, and hopefully even explain away her absence in some other capacity."_

"_Fred, George... I think it's time you two took your trip abroad, like all wizards are supposed to do after they leave Hogwarts. Where you go, or what you do, I don't have any control over, but being in a place where you can be found would not be a good idea for you two right now," Harry told the twins in no-nonsense terms._

"_But Harry..." Mrs. Weasley tried again._

"_Mrs. Weasley... Molly," Harry's voice grew thick with emotion. "The only thing you can do for us is help us to remain hidden. We're in more danger if we stay, and as fearful as you can be riled up... I think even you would quail at facing an army of Death Eaters and 'Aurors' that were dead set on capturing and torturing your children, no matter what you had to say or did. We'll contact you, if we can, but don't expect anything."_

_At that moment, Ginny and Hermione both came back in, dressed in normal muggle clothing, jeans and sweatshirts. Ron just pulled off his dress robes to reveal a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans, before accepting a jacket from Hermione. Harry stood, gave them all one last look, before turning in a tight circle, his clothing changing around him as he did so into a red blouse, navy blue blazer, tight black jeans and black sneakers._

"_Well... Bye," was all he said before all four disappeared in a near-blinding flash of emerald green light._

"_Most people study chess strategies for entire lifetimes before they fully understand the concept of different strategies and the existence of counters for them. I know, because I happen to be one of them. It took me years of strategic training and tactical exercises to understand concepts that seem to come naturally to you."_

"_Yeah, so what?"_

_Harry chuckled again. "Well, I'm going to give you the same training I got and see where you can go with it. You already know chess, so introducing something simpler like chess, poker, or trading card games is pointless. Therefore I'm going to teach you another classical game that has aided military minds across the planet for centuries."_

"_Really? Wicked! Is this some sort of secret Battle Magic ritual?" he cackled._

_Giving Ron a look that more or less said 'Huh? What? Are you out of your mind?' and replied, "No. I'm going to teach you Go."_

_As an experiment, Hermione decided to use the Leguz rune in a simple spiral pattern to see what would happen. She focused on the rune repeating over and over into an every expanding spiral with her at the center. Yet again, if she had opened her eyes, she would have seen all the runes that had been floating around her vanish until only the one she was focusing on floated directly above her head. It began to glow brighter the harder she concentrated on it, and then when she started focusing enough magic into her spiral, the spell finally triggered and the effect took place._

_Hermione was suddenly brought out of her meditation by a sharp coldness surrounding her. Opening her eyes, she was shocked when she saw that the room she'd been sitting in was frozen over. Not just cold or a bit of snow and ice, but as in completely frozen throughout, like the next ice age had come through and spent a few hundred years transforming all that occupied the room into solid frozen matter._

"_Oh... my..." she whispered softly as she got to her feet._

"_I need to get Harry," she firmly decided and bolted for the exit as quickly as she could._

"_They had lined up all of the 'Potential Undesirables' in the Department of Mysteries, had the Dementors there to keep everybody in line... There were children younger than school age in that line," he hissed. "Those that could 'prove blood purity' or to be more accurate could pay Umbitch enough bribes to give them a stamp of approval got to leave with their families. Everybody else? Azkaban. Muggleborns? Dementor's Kiss and body either killed or otherwise disposed of."_

_His three friends looked shocked and appalled at this information, but he wasn't done yet. "Of course I didn't know this at first. I was just looking around, saw the line, saw the Dementors, I reacted. Sure you saw the herd of Patroni I conjured, well that was the first thing I did, followed very shortly by getting the people out of here. Then I went in to confront Umbitch. Moment I let her see me, she shot the Cruciatus Curse at me. They're supposed to AK me on sight, you know? Anyway, I pulled out a mirror and she kept up the curse until she had a heart attack. Didn't kill her, unfortunately."_

"_Yeah, saw what you did to her, not bad work, mate. Twins would approve," Ron/Moody commented._

"_Oh, that came after I revived her. Anyway, I don't exactly carry Veritaserum on me all the time, so I was forced to use other means of getting the information I required, and our former Headmistress was quite talkative after I demonstrated some of that for her."_

"_Harry..." Hermione/McGonagall whimpered._

_He smiled and shook his head, "No, Hermione, I didn't torture her, although I do have to admit the temptation was there. One of the spells I learned from my spy days... uh... when I was 15, anyway, the spell is basically a truth spell, making the person or persons affected by it answer any question asked them with the full and unabridged truth, no matter what. Even keeping quiet or holding something back is not an option."_

"_And?" Ginny could tell that he was still holding something back himself._

"_It's worse than I had ever feared," he told them, his expression going dark._

"_The bodies, after being Kissed or killed... there's no physical evidence or actual proof, but Umbridge believed they were being sent off to Voldemort... and being turned into Inferi. Or Vampires. Or mind-controlled werewolves. Or... gods above, if there is a single Dark Creature that is born from the destruction or use of a dead wizard's body, he's using them to create an army that could march out over the entire world and nothing could stand in his way."_

"_Harry... what are you saying?" Hermione was confused._

"_He's not stopping with the Ministry. I don't know if it's because I confronted him instead of running. I don't know if I just pushed him over the edge... But Riddle isn't going to sit back and rule Wizarding Britain and be satisfied with that. We already know how he plans on living forever. I've got the rest of his Horcruxes, except for the snake. Once that's gone, I can kill him free and clear, but... He's set up a contingency plan. He dies, his entire army marches out and it does not stop. I found the proof of his plan just before I came across you three here. Not proof of what happens to the bodies of the Undesirables, but proof that it is his plan. When this army of his reaches enough numbers that no matter who, what, or how many oppose him that it won't even matter, he's going to let it loose on the entire world. Not just the magical world. The whole world."_

_Hermione gasped, while the Weasleys just looked stunned. Wasn't much else they could do._

"_And if that isn't bad enough, he's also made it so that the very moment that he dies, enough numbers or not, this... Dark Army is going to go out of control and start destroying everything there is. So if I kill him or not, there's still going to be a whole lot of damage done, if not the whole ball of wax going out the window," he told them._

"_Well... we'll just have to stop this army first and then destroy him," Ron said, crossing his arms._

_Harry shook his head. "Not enough time. Even if we contact the Order and I start training them the way I have been you guys... we just don't have the numbers and it would take too long! And while I found proof of it's existence, I have no clue as to where this Dark Army is being made or how many already exist. I could go out there and hunt Moldywart down right now, obliterate every trace of him and it could be only a handful of zombies, which I can handle, or it could be pockets of Dark Creatures hidden away all over Europe that I can't."_

"_We'll help!" Ginny exclaimed._

"_That's just it, you're nowhere near being ready to help in something like this! Against Death Eaters and wizards and witches is one thing, but against this... Guys, the spells I've been teaching you are powerful, yes, but you'd need at least the amount of experience I have before—" Harry suddenly stopped talking as his eyes went wide and his breathing hitched._

"_Harry?" the girls called, worried, while Ron kept looking around, but he couldn't see or hear anyone._

"_Bloody hell, I'm brilliant," Harry said out loud. "We need to get back home. Now!"_

_With that, all four vanished in a blinding flash of light as Harry teleported them through several levels of wards and then across several miles back to 12 Grimmauld Place. They didn't have much time._

"_This Mirror, is called the Mirror of the Ancients. It has some fancy Latin name but that really doesn't matter at this point. It has a duplicate in every single universe. That's rare. It cannot be destroyed, and if it is, it reforms somewhere else, maybe in some other form. Point is, what it does, is it connects itself to every single one of it's duplicates. Oh, not all at once. Think of it like the Floo, direct one-to-one, point-to-point links. Some things change, but for the large part, you'll find yourself in the same spot, just a completely different universe. A different reality, sometimes even alternate dimensions! But, as you all can guess, it's dangerous too. Hence, why the Founders put it in a Vault all by itself."_

_She silently glared at him. For good measure, she even threw in the look she gave him and Ron when they didn't finish their homework and crossed her arms to show her impatience. Harry crumbled like a house of cards. Sighing again, he ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing around the Mirror once more._

"_What you were doing is an advanced magical art, a subsidiary study of Battle Magic. Not one of the primary lessons, something you either specialize in, or you don't use it at all," he explained. "It's called Rune Battle Magic. And, as you can guess from the name alone, it uses runes and similar symbols to form and cast spells with. And, it's used for battle and fighting."_

"_Why haven't you mentioned it before?"_

"_Like I said, you either specialize in it, or you don't do it," he told her. "I chose to become a generalist, learning everything to do with Battle Magic equally. The fact that, at seventeen, I'm pretty much a master in all my fields says a lot, but I'm not even a novice at Rune Battle Magic. I won't lie to you Hermione, the fact that you can use Rune Battle Magic naturally and seem to have quite a talent for it... well, it scares me."_

"_Scares you? But why?" Hermione couldn't understand._

"_What was the first thing you did with this new skill? Accident or otherwise, what was the first thing?" he asked her with a pointed glare._

_She sheepishly grimaced and shrugged. "Well, actually it looked like I sort of froze the library study..."_

"_Froze it solid, like it had been through an ice age or two maybe?" he pointedly asked. She nodded._

"_Rune Magic of any sort is dangerous as the runes take the place of magical forms, and those symbols can mean almost anything. Put into a specific pattern, Rune Magic can have effects greater and more powerful than the strongest wizard using the strongest wand to cast the most powerful spell ever. Rune Battle Magic takes writing them down out of the equation. As you already know, Rune Battle Magic takes the method I taught you for forming the shape of the spell and then using that to cast the spell, to the next level, by forming runes in the same way. Same pattern of runes that makes a regular Rune spell, carved onto a stone alter to cast a mass area-effect spell, can be cast by just picturing the runes and forming them out of magic into the same pattern. What you did earlier was combine the rune for water in the universal pattern for wind. Combining two elements in a way that exponentially builds upon itself, increasing the formation of ice with each repetition of the pattern. Hence making ice of everything directly around you."_

_As she absorbed all that, he concluded, "Yeah, Hermione, it scares me. It should scare you too."_

"_Oh... OK..." she mumbled._

_All of them held their wand hands forward, hovering just above the mirror's surface, waiting._

"_All right, one," Harry began to count, "two... THREE!"_

_As one they all reached forward and touched the cool surface of the Mirror at the same moment._

_And now, the _Continuation_..._

_Hogwarts Vault_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Late Morning_

Traveling between universes was a lot like every type of magical transportation the Wizarding world had, all put together into one big unsettling experience. The moment their hands touched the glass, they felt the cool material against their skin for just that instant, right before it sucked them into it and then it was like their entire bodies were wrapped up in the somewhat cold material. After they were given a moment to appreciate the sensations going through their bodies, they felt something else, like they were being sucked through the hole of a very small straw, one atom at a time, tearing them apart and making them dizzy and disoriented all at once. The force of the suction became so intense that it was like walking through open flame for all eternity, and then before they knew it, they were whole and back in the coldness of the mirror's glass. An instant after that, they all found themselves in the same room, still holding their hands to the surface of the glass, just very disoriented.

All four teens stumbled back from the _Ancient Mirror_, releasing contact with the surface, and almost falling to the floor even. They all took a gasping breath, the tallest one bending down to grab his knees and trying to keep from throwing up. Both girls held themselves tightly, shivering slightly, taking short, gasping breaths, not sure whether to be screaming or crying or what, just glad it was over with. The final member of the group, with wild black hair, vivid emerald green eyes and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, however, just stood there calm as could be like he did things like that every single day.

"Wh-wh-wh-whu... what was th-th-that?" the tall boy with red hair and freckles stuttered.

"That, was us traveling between universes, Ron," the black-haired boy replied. "Get used to it. Like I said, this is a starting point. After we get finished here, or if things get too intense, then we'll head to another universe, hopefully one even quieter than this one."

"You're mad," Ron said to the other boy, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Harry," the red-haired girl called, "Where are we exactly?"

"Not sure, Ginny," Harry replied. "Let's go find out," he added with a grin.

"Wait!" the bushy-haired girl cried out. "Are we sure it's safe?"

Harry chuckled. "Hermione, most people would pass out in sheer terror if they knew how close to death they came just by waking up each day, and then some. Safe is a relative term, so let me put it like this; as long as I'm with you guys, it's as safe as safe can be."

Blushing, Hermione merely nodded, and the three teens followed Harry to the stairs leading up to the doorway, which was closed with a simple door, but they could clearly see sunlight spilling through. Opening the door for them, Harry took a quick look outside, grinned and nodded, then gestured for them all to go through. Hesitantly, Ron stepped through first, and was surprised to find him stepping out into noon-day sunlight and an open courtyard not too far away from the Transfiguration classroom.

Harry was the last one out, closing the door behind them. A door which vanished the moment it was closed. The others gasped, worried about losing access to the Vault and the Mirror within. Harry assured them that it was all right. They weren't exactly going to be needing it any time soon.

"So... now what?" asked Ron, clueless.

Harry grinned again, seemingly having the time of his life, a rapid change from the bossy and stressed leader of a band of fugitives from so much as an hour ago. "Now? Let's go meet the natives!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Harry?" Hermione questioned. "After all, they may not all be friendly."

"Oh, I'm certain not _all_ of them will be friendly, Hermione," Harry laughed. "Some of them are Slytherins, keep in mind. Also, this place probably has it's own Moldywart, keep in mind. This universe is running just a tad behind us, though at roughly half the the speed faster. Meaning that in our universe, for every second that passes, one and a half seconds pass here."

"How could it be moving faster, yet still be behind us?" she wanted to know.

Harry shrugged, walking through the courtyard now, leading them into the school proper. Surprisingly, no students seemed to be walking the halls at the moment, but a very loud commotion could be heard from the direction of the Great Hall, leading to the guess that it was lunch time.

"Just because some universes started later than others, or some move slower, while still others move faster and just need time to catch up, and again others seemingly start at a later point in the time line and keep up the momentum somehow. It's... very complicated," he finally answered his friend.

"So," he stopped them at an intersection, "you guys hungry? Tired? It is practically midnight for us and noon for people here. And roughly 10 months behind us from the look of things, but that's besides the point. Do we join everybody in the Great Hall for Lunch, do we find our dorm rooms and take a nap, what do you guys want to try first?"

"How about some explanations?" Hermione demanded, crossing her arms.

Harry sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine," he grunted, leading them to an empty nearby classroom.

Once they were inside, he slammed the door shut and waved his hand at the door, walls, ceiling and floor. "Now we have privacy. In order of your questions; the real reason that we basically made an exodus of our entire universe instead of going to the Room of Requirements or some other hidden away training area is because Voldemort controls more than just the Death Eaters and the Ministry."

"That Dark Army you mentioned," Ron commented. Harry nodded.

"The evidence I found," he pulled a folded up piece of parchment from his pocket, "isn't much, but when put into the proper context, it can be pretty terrifying. Orders for the prison graveyard at Azkaban to be dug up and the... contents of it delivered to Malfoy Manor. All prisoners that are executed, send to Malfoy Manor. And an order form, for all 'appropriated' ingredients needed for creating Inferi sent to an address in Little Hangleton. Umbridge herself witnessed one of these... transfers, where everything was shipped out. She didn't see it happening, but even she could figure out that if you're making _that_ many dark creatures to be controlled by one man, then you've got yourselves a Dark Army answering only to the Dark Lord."

"And the reason we couldn't go to the Order of the Phoenix? Besides the fact that you think they're old and useless?" sarcastically asked Hermione.

Harry shrugged. "Do I really need another reason than that?"

"Harry!" she screeched.

"Well," he defensively cried, "they might be the good guys, but even if I trained the entire new generation and a few of the older generation in Battle Magic, the most, and I firmly stress _the MOST_ we could have hoped for was a draw, matching the quality of our forces against the quantity and quality of his forces. Except that adding the Dark Army to the equation, a draw means that everything in between pretty much gets wasted and both sides are assured destruction. I don't know what it was, but the fact the Voldemort went to the trouble to actually start doing this in the first place says that he's more than willing to unleash it and if he suddenly finds himself on the losing side? He won't have any problem adopting a _scorched earth_ philosophy nor following through on it."

Hermione audibly gulped.

"Not good?" Ron whimpered.

"It would be the end of the world," Ginny sarcastically informed her brother of the fact. "So, why us? Why not grab a few extra members of the Order? Why not wait a week, getting more information until the Mirror Room was accessible for a longer period of time and take more people? Why just us?"

"Ah, the hard question," Harry sighed and turned around to sit on one of the empty desks.

"Each of you are more powerful than you realize," he finally told them. "Ginny, you're magical strength is surprising, to say the _least_. Especially for one of your age and gender. The last few weeks training you has merely gone to prove that, as you're actually learning everything that I've been teaching you at roughly the same pace that I learned it. Need I remind you, I'm also one of the exceptionally few that have _mastered_ just about every aspect of Battle Magic in less than five years, and hold masteries in Academic and Ambient classes of magic, all earned before I turned 16? It's impressive."

"Ron," Harry turned to his best friend, "You are the laziest, least motivated, most unfocused, most slothful, and most gluttonous wizard that I have ever met."

"Gee, thanks mate," Ron grumbled, feeling like crap all of a sudden.

"You're also one of the most talented chess players I've ever met, and a damn fine Keeper too," he added.

Ron's eyes lit up in hope, until they dulled once more as he remarked, "Yeah, that's all fine and good for my future careers as a professional chess and Quidditch player. Doesn't exactly do me a lot of good in the middle of a war or in a duel, does it?"

"Exactly!" Harry smiled openly at his friend's sudden depression. "So, how does that make you feel?"

Staring incredulously at the man he _thought_ was his friend, Ron rolled his eyes as he answered, "Like crap. Why? Want to rub some salt in the wounds? Belittle my manhood while you're at it?"

"Well, needless to say, nobody likes feeling like crap, so what are you going to do about it?" Harry challenged.

Blinking, Ron looked back up at him, "Huh?"

"Do you always want to be lazy, stupid, unfocused, slow and fat? Or do you want to actually be a part of this war and turn your strengths into weapons?" Harry got into his face as he said this.

Ron's eyes narrowed as he considered the question. No, no considering needed. "What are you getting at mate? First you insult me to my face, after almost two months of the worst experiences I've ever had that you called _training_ and now you tell me that I'm still no good and I'm supposed to turn chess and Keeper skills into weapons so I can fight in a war? No more guessing games, _Potter_! Give me a straight answer, for once!"

"Oh, there's a joke in there that I'm just dying to use, but I'm sure you'll give me opportunity to use it later," Harry chuckled. He stepped back and started walking around the classroom. "Ron, you are a chess prodigy, and when you're on your game, your Keeper skills are the best anybody has ever seen, even from professionals. You're also about as strong, magically speaking, as your sister is, which is more a testament to her than you, as you're the exact average for a wizard of your age, and she's a year younger and a witch."

"Little known fact," Harry cast as an aside to Hermione and Ginny, "Wizards tend to have more magical strength, y'know, force behind their spells. Witches, on the other hand, have greater control, and as such can usually cast more spells faster, but not with as much strength. So, again, Ginny is very unique here."

Back to Ron, "What do you know about strategy and tactics, Ron? No, don't answer that, rhetorical question. We went to Hogwarts School of Magic, not school of warfare. Thing is, some of the greatest tacticians and strategists of the ages have credited their own skill by playing chess, or similar games, and Go, the game that I started teaching you a few weeks ago, remember?"

Ron dumbly nodded his head.

"Think of war as a close-up and live version of those games, or, if it helps, as it does most, start thinking of Chess and Go as overhead pictures of both war and individual battles. An overall war is played similarly to the way Go is played, with each side's forces taking and losing territory and so on and so forth, while on a similar note, chess is very much like an individual battle, with the soldiers, knights, etc, etc, etc battling each other to obtain victory over the prized objective for this particular battle, whatever that might be."

"That does not, however, automatically mean that somebody good at chess can go out and become a General and win a war," he gave Ron a glare. "But, on the other hand, if a General that already has experience, starts exercising his already keen, tactical mind by playing Chess and Go, then he just might become an even better General and win his future battles more easily."

Ron's face lit up in realization. "That's why you've been after me these past few weeks, always challenging me to chess matches, making me play that Multi-Chess nightmare, learn how to play Go! All so you could tell me this?!"

Harry rolled his eyes, groaning out loud. "Close, so very close."

Hermione, sighing with her own frustration, said, "Ron, what Harry is _trying_ to say is that he is getting you to exercise your mind, and develop, whatever small amount of it you have, your tactical and strategical senses. As much as it pains me to admit this, all of us will undoubtedly be involved in future battles, and apparently, Harry wants you to be as prepared for this as you can be."

"Wouldn't it be better to teach me more cool Battle spells, then?" the redhead turned hopefully to the green-eyed youth.

Groaning anew, Harry tried again.

"What would you do if I did teach you a bunch of cool battle spells, Ron?" he snapped at the boy suddenly. "What would you do if you could suddenly shoot out lightning bolts and fireballs with a wave of a wand? What would you do if you could actually stop the Unforgivables? What would you do if you could create an entire army of yourself and unleash it upon your enemies? What. Would. You. Do?"

At that, Ron was stumped. After a moment, he kicked his brain into gear and actually started to think about it. After a few moments, during which all three occupants of the room were silent in order to give him time to think, he started to realize that he really didn't know the answer to that question. He'd still been too caught up in how _cool_ it would be to shoot out fireballs and lightning bolts and create hundreds of copies of yourself, he hadn't given a single thought to _how_ he would use all these new spells. Heck, he already knew one cool battle spell, and being able to change into just about anything, anybody, and any animal in the world was cool enough, and he still hardly knew what to do with it.

Finally, he said aloud, "I... I don't know. I, I've been one colossal prat, haven't I?"

Harry shrugged with a grin, "Yeah, but we forgive you. We need somebody to be the comedy relief around here, might as well be you."

Ron laughed and nodded his head.

"So... how do I turn my strengths into weapons?" he asked, fully serious.

Harry saw this and nodded. "Well, you start by asking that question, and meaning it."

"I do," Ron nodded.

"Good. Next, you need to realize the correlation between the games and reality. Don't start classifying everybody as 'Pawn', 'Knight', 'Queen' and so forth, but start thinking of the ways that people, meaning wizards and witches, match up against one another. Some have certain strengths that give them a unique advantage against another that has different strengths. I won't give you any cheats here, just start thinking it over, Ron."

The red-haired wizard nodded his head and started giving it his full concentration.

"And Hermione..." Harry started to say.

"When are you going to teach me more about this Rune Battle Magic?" she interrupted.

He sighed, "... the uncomfortable question. Hermione... I can't teach you Rune Battle Magic..."

"Why not?" she screamed, outraged.

"...BECAUSE, I don't know how to do it myself!" he screamed back, half-glaring at her for interrupting him. "I tried to tell you before, you either learn Rune Battle Magic and _nothing BUT_ Rune Battle Magic, or you don't learn it at all! So, here is my first order, and I pray it is the last I give outside of an actual battle. Hermione, you are not, under _any_ circumstances, to use Rune Battle Magic at all. For any reasons whatsoever!"

"WHAT?!" Hermione swelled up, eerily identical to the way Mrs. Weasley could. "How dare...!!"

"I'm not finished!" he yelled at her.

Hermione blinked, taken aback. The Weasley's retreated a step even.

"I said," Harry glared at her, as if expecting her to interrupt him again, "that you are not to _use_ Rune Battle Magic. You are more than welcome to research as much of it as you can, and I will help you with that. When we have the time," he stressed those words, "I'll tell you everything that I know of it and give you some direction on what it is you might need to know. But until we do know more, you are not to use Rune Battle Magic at all! Not even an experiment to test something out. If you do..."

Harry sighed, running his hand through his unruly black hair. "Hermione... if you do... Well, I just pray to God that you never do, as it could very well be the last thing that you ever will do. And I don't want you to die, all right?"

Gulping back tears suddenly, Hermione shakily nodded her head.

"Good. I'm hungry. Anybody else hungry? Let's go get something to eat," with that he waved his hand and he was out the door the moment it opened. Chagrined, his three friends quickly and quietly followed him.

_Hogwarts Great Hall_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Lunch time_

Harry and Maya were just sitting down to their meal, setting their respective staffs alongside their seats. They placed themselves across from Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table, already in the midst of a conversation, though few could really understand what it was they were talking about.

"I don't get it," Maya said as she sat down next to Harry. "The theory is sound. The Elemental Equations match. Why doesn't it work?"

Harry shrugged. "Sorry, can't help you there, Sis." He frowned in thought for a few seconds. "Maybe you're looking at this from the wrong angle. The Animagus Transformation is a Western piece of magic, and you're looking at it from an oriental mindset."

Maya nodded thoughtfully at the table. "Maybe. But the same laws of magic should still apply!"

"Maybe," Harry allowed. "But still, I can't cast a western spell using oriental methods."

Maya crossed her arms, and stared at her empty plate. "Maybe I am," she allowed. "Alright, overview. I am balancing the Void as well as the Air, in order to achieve an animal transfiguration on myself. I know this theory is sound, as I can use it to Transfigure someone _else_ into an animal."

Harry nodded. "True. However, that is Transfiguration, not Animagus Transformation. One is a Transfiguration, basically, the changing of shape and size of one object into another. The other is a _Transformation_, a complete change of mind and body."

Maya stared at her brother for a few seconds. "I hadn't thought of it that way. Transfiguration of the Self is rather difficult, isn't it?"

Harry grinned.

"Will you two _stop_ that!" Hermione said forcefully."

"Stop what?" Harry asked.

"Jabbering in Japanese like that!"

Harry looked sheepish. "Sorry. I guess it just comes naturally." He looked at Maya. "Also, Animagus Transformation is supposed to be to one animal, the one that is closest to you in mind and spirit. What animal were you trying to transform into?"

Hermione blustered as Harry picked right up in the middle of his conversation.

Maya frowned slightly. "I was going for a tiger, actually."

Harry looked thoughtful for a few moments. "I think the first thing we need to figure out is how to find the animal that is supposed to be your Animagus form, then figure out how to do the transformation. I know that my father and his friends figured it out by themselves, so it should be possible."

"True," Maya said, before muttering a 'finally' when the food appeared. "It still irks me that I could have overlooked the difference between Transfiguration and Transformation. And I still don't get why it can only do a single animal."

"Probably just because it is supposed to be the animal that is closest to you in mind and spirit. There can be only one of those, after all," Harry replied after filling his own plate.

Maya glanced at Ken. "Maybe Sensei can help."

"Maybe not," Harry said with a grin. "How about we do this as an extra-curricular exercise?"

Maya was silent for a few moments, before a wicked look entered her classic Asian features. "Great idea, Bro. I knew there was a reason why I kept you around."

"You needed someone to use as a punching bag?" Harry suggested helpfully, right as she was taking a drink from her goblet of pumpkin juice. The result was that she started hacking and coughing as the fluid went down her windpipe.

After a few more minutes, Hermione began to fidget, and Harry and Maya both counted down silently until the girl finally broke. It was clear that she wanted to ask Maya something and they both has a guess as to what it might be.

"Maya, do you think it's too late to call Ayumi?" Hermione asked finally. She had become rather fond of the Rune Apprentice from Japan, as they had more understanding of runes and arithmancy than anyone save the Professors themselves, with the bonus that they were the same age, more or less.

"It's past midnight over there, Hermione," Harry reminded his friend.

"No, it should not be too late," Maya grinned mischievously. "Knowing Ayumi, she's probably still online trying to get that arithmantic equation you two were talking about last week just right. Here you go," Maya handed over her MC, MagicCom, to her magical brother's friend.

"Thanks," Hermione gratefully accepted the piece of technology, turning it on as she glanced absentmindedly towards the entrance to the Great Hall. The MC was halfway through it's boot-up when she froze and slowly did a double-take between the entrance and Harry and Maya sitting in front of her.

Harry, for once paying more attention to his surroundings than his internal issues, noticed this and asked, concerned, "Hermione? Something the matter?"

Mute, Hermione only continued to stare up at the entrance to the Great Hall. Harry, realizing that Hermione was staring at something, and that was what was bothering her, glanced to the entrance of the Great Hall, where she was staring. He blinked.

_Sis?_

_I see it too, Bro._

_Thought so_, Harry slowly stood up, making sure his sword was in the position where he could draw it quickly, and grabbed his staff in an attack rather than a carrying position.

"DA," Harry called, drawing instant attention from all those around him as more looked to the entrance.

Up at the Head Table, similar looks of shock were developing, save for two. A sallow-faced greasy-haired man sitting on one end of the table, and a composed and elegant Asian woman dressed in formal kimono carrying both staff and sword, sitting at the other side of the table. He frowned in contempt and growing hatred, while she displayed no visible emotions, save a small frown, which could easily be either disapproval or confusion.

Slowly, as first individuals, then whole groups began to glance towards the entrance and then to Gryffindor table, the Great Hall slowly quieted, until only a few individuals at Slytherin table were talking, but they quickly silenced once the quiet began to spread. After a few minutes, the entire Great Hall was staring at the four individuals just standing there in the entranceway.

Once silence had settled over the Great Hall, Harry got up and joined the procession from the Head Table to the entrance, Maya joining him as well.

"OK, for future reference, we'll go to Dumbledore first," Harry said as an aside to his friends beside him, as they noticed the rather heavy attention they were suddenly being given.

"Harry... Dumbledore's dead," Hermione reminded him.

"And we've basically gone back in time to a universe where he hasn't died yet," he reminded her gently. "Which we will continue to do for quite some time yet. Don't worry, you'll all get the hang of it. Eventually."

All three of them groaned, as they'd come to recognize Harry's "pranking" nature that usually came through when he was giving them a new torture session that he called training.

From the Head Table, they noticed a group making their way straight towards them, joined shortly by some of the students from Gryffindor table, while everyone else in the Hall remained seated, staring.

"Am I mistaken, or is that a new face?" Harry turned to his companions.

"Different Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Hermione suggested.

"Let's find out," Harry turned, stepping forward to be greeted by the very intimidating procession.

At the lead, of course, was Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore, unfortunately with a near-mummified right hand, indicating he had only another few months to live, at the most. Almost on lead with him was an unfamiliar, to the travelers, Asian woman in formal kimono bearing both wooden staff and a sheathed Japanese longsword. Immediately behind her was a younger Asian woman, dressed in a Gryffindor school uniform, carrying a different wooden staff with her sheathed sword strapped to her waist. Immediately beside the young woman was Harry's counterpart, also carrying a staff with a sword belted to his waist. On Dumbledore's side, Professor Snape had beat Professor McGonagall in the foot race and was closer, though they were both behind the older wizard, bearing wands in hand.

Meanwhile, Harry had come to a stop just beside and to the left of Ken, Maya standing at his right shoulder. After a few seconds, Harry, standing next to Hermione, Ginny and Ron, shifted his stance so he stood more or less in front of his counterpart, who likewise took a step forward, bringing them in front of each other much like a mirror reflection of the other, save one in his school uniform, the other in jeans, shirt, and jacket.

"Who are you?" Dumbledore demanded.

Harry grinned and shrugged, replying, "Who do I look like?"

"You look like me," Harry, standing next to Ken and Maya answered.

"Then I must be you," Harry crossed his arms, smiling openly.

Both Harry's stared at each other for just a few seconds, before Harry squinted, and asked, "I'm guessing this is not like third year."

"Nope," Harry replied with a grin.

"And I hope it's not like second year." Harry said.

He grimaced and answered, "Thank Heavens, no."

"Fourth Year?"

"Good assumption, but no," the newcomer replied.

Harry nodded. Not a Time-Turner, not a Horcrux, and not polyjuice. "You seem to know the references, though," he said.

"A lot of people do," Harry reminded him, more and more people starting to look confused as the two Harry's played verbal catch.

"Not as many as we think, but more than we like," Harry said.

Harry shrugged, then nodded. "Unfortunately true."

"So," Harry finally said, after the silence had drawn on for ten long seconds, "Which one was closest?"

"Third year, I'd say," Harry commented. "But not really."

"Not time," Harry said, thinking things over. He squinted in concentration. "You seem to be a lot more powerful than I am. Even more so than the old man. Space?"

Harry just grinned. Most people looked confusedly back and forth between them. Maya smiled slightly. Ken remained her usual neutral self, while both Hermione's were staring wide-eyed as well, having caught most of the references both Harry's were using, and suitably impressed by the revelations implied.

"Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

Harry placed his free hand on his hip, and gave his counterpart a stare. His mirror nodded. "Gotcha. Snape?"

The look turned into a frown. His mirror grinned in return. "I think we'll get along fine. So, are you going to invite us to lunch? Cause I'm starving!"

Harry shrugged. "Sure, why not? Care to join us for lunch? I'm sure Maya and Ken-sensei are as curious to your origins as I am. My sister, and my teacher, respectively," he added when noticed his counterpart's inquiring look.

Harry blinked. "Sister?"

Harry grinned. "Let's trade secrets," He glanced around the Great Hall. "In private."

"Fair enough," his mirror replied, extending a hand, which Harry shook with a wide smile.

Before they even turned around however, Harry decided to introduce himself to both of the charming foreign ladies, starting with Ken. "Hi, I don't believe we've met," Harry smiled charmingly at the woman, "I'm Harry Potter, and you would be? Besides lovely, angelic, beautiful, gorgeous and hot that is."

The woman blinked, her frown deepened.

Off to the side, Harry whispered to him, "Oh my god, are you _flirting_ with my Sensei?!"

Harry's eyes snapped to his counterpart at these words for only a moment. His eyes flashed back and forth between Harry, Maya, and the older Asian woman before him. He spent a whole second looking the woman up and down, focusing on several key things, before he said to her, "Mahou Mo Ken?"

Taken aback for the moment, the woman, now identified as Mahou Mo Ken, arched one elegant eyebrow in acknowledgment, but did not take her eyes off the Harry Potter in front of her.

"That is your title, yes?" Harry innocently remarked. "Magic and Sword. First Bodyguard to the Emperor of Japan, Official Leader of the Magical Defense Force of Japan in the wake of World War II, Unofficially the Voice of the Emperor to Magical Japan, carrying the Word of the Emperor as Law and then Enforcing it by steel and spell. Assuming the time lines remain linear, that would make you the..." he looked Ken over again, "Third Mahou Mo Ken since the Eradication, and the one thousand, four hundred twentieth to bear the title since it's inception."

"You are remarkably well informed," she addressed him, even as she lowered her staff until it was pointed directly in his face. A brief moment of concentration caused the tip to glow with magical power.

"Well, in my education, it pays to be as well informed as one can be," Harry grinned roguishly. "My apologies for being so forward, it was not my intention to offend. Quite the opposite in truth. Plus, it would be rude to interrupt lunch, and besides, I'm still hungry. Would you excuse me for just one moment? And guys? Relax. I was joking about the fighting."

Surprised, everyone glanced behind them to see Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all in martial arts stances, which further surprised them as most would expect them to be holding out wands instead. Ken looked back to the mirror image of her student, and was surprised to see him half a room away at the Ravenclaw table munching on a roll of bread and sitting next to Luna Lovegood!

"Y'know, you really should stop giving me the evil eye, Luna," he was saying to the girl beside him, "I might begin to think you don't like me for some reason. Care to pass the bacon, Terry? Thanks." He paused long enough to feed the snowy white owl on his shoulder a few strips of the cooked meat.

"You're not Harry," Luna almost hissed at the boy calmly eating beside her.

"Well," Harry said between swallows, "I am, I am, I am, I am, and I'm not. It's all really very complicated, which I suddenly have the feeling I'm going to be saying that a lot in the future..."

"Who are you?" the blond asked him.

He shrugged and replied, "Who do I look like?"

She tilted her head to the side, then pronounced, "You look like Harry James Potter mixed with Harry mixed with Harry Potter mixed with Potter."

Harry tilted his head back at her, then nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Nobody ever said it that way before though, but it works for me. Well, I enjoyed this chat, but I think the old people are starting to get restless. Talk to you later, Luna."

The next thing they knew, he was standing between his counterpart and Ken once again, saying, "After you, Nee-chan." In flawless Japanese.

"Being a shameless flirt does not suit you, Mr. Potter," Ken said, her wooden staff echoing loudly against the stone floor with every step.

"Sad, but true," the muggle-dressed Harry pouted. "Still, one cannot help it when in the presence of true beauty, and I was trained in the art of seduction by a bunch of nymphs, so please excuse the sometimes vagrant exaggerations, as I mean what I say. Sometimes it just comes out wrong."

"Y'know, you never did answer my question about whether you really did lose your virginity to a nymph the last time I asked you," Ginny 'innocently' remarked.

"And now we're having Lunch in the Headmaster's Office," Harry immediately changed the subject and stopped. He glanced around very briefly and then raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Everyone in the Great Hall saw a blinding flash of green-tinted light and when it faded, all the Professors, the strangers, and the original Hermione, Ron, Harry and Maya were all gone.

_Hogwarts_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Headmaster's Office_

For those transported however, one second they're all in the Great Hall, the very next they're all seated in the Headmaster's Office. Those that were standing originally were still standing, but those that were sitting, thankfully, found themselves seated in the available seating and even found new seats conjured just for them even. Dumbledore was now behind his desk, while all the Professors of Hogwarts were arranged behind him in their seats, except for Professor McGonagall, who stood next to the Headmaster.

In front of the desk, Harry had placed himself and his friends, while he put Ken, Maya, his counterpart and his friends' counterparts off to the side, facing them, putting himself and the other 'outsiders' directly in the spotlight. "Figured I'd save us all some time," he said to their disbelieving looks.

"But... you can't Apparate within Hogwarts!" Hermione, next to Harry and Maya, protested.

"I didn't Apparate, I teleported," Harry grinned at her, then turned his full attention back to Dumbledore, Mahou mo Ken, and his counterpart.

"Mind if we do this while we eat?" he asked them suddenly, before any questions could start. "It's pretty much the middle of the night for us and dinner was like six hours ago. So...?"

"Of course, of course," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling as he took his seat behind the desk, "I'll have something brought up immediately. Now, if you please, could you perhaps explain what it is you're doing here, and how you came to be here in the first place?"

"Sure, sure, sure," Harry casually waved his hand, and instantly comfortable seating appeared next to all of those still standing. His friends only took their seats after Harry gave them the OK, though he remained standing himself, feeling that he needed to as he explained. "At least to the first. More than happy to. Can't really help you on that second one though."

"Why not?" Snape snarled.

"Why didn't I teleport you to a mile over the middle of the lake?" Harry sarcastically asked in reply.

"The latter has to do with an object that is located within one of the Vaults of Hogwarts," he told Dumbledore. "If you knew what it was, or even where it is currently, you would remove it from the Vault to 'put it in a safe place' and that would be bad. Very bad. So bad that you would pretty much be destroying the entire world by doing that. So... I'm not going to answer the second question, OK? OK."

Dumbledore lost a bit of the twinkle in his eyes, but remained optimistic nevertheless. "So, Harry, what are you doing here?"

"Training," he answered, then remained silent.

"You wouldn't believe how often he does this," Ron sighed, shaking his head in his seat.

"Always keeping secrets?" Ron asked, silently gesturing between the two Harry's.

"No," Ron shook his head again, "Only answering direct questions, and when he 'explains', he always does it with the least amount of information possible. He's always honest and he doesn't hold anything back, but it's like pulling wool! You get some of it, most of it maybe, but you never get all of it until you ask the right questions. Bloody annoying, it is."

Harry just smiled, his own eyes twinkling at the words of the two Ron's conversation.

"Whose training?" Harry asked his counterpart.

"Theirs," Harry gestured at his friends.

"For?"

"Bad stuff happened in our universe. Even worse stuff was about to happen, I had just found out about it, and I had a decision to make. I made it. I've been training them for the past couple of months, but their progress was too slow for it to help or make any difference with what was about to happen. So, I got us more time, and more opportunities for training."

"Why would you be training them?" Maya asked. Not really disbelieving, just honestly curious.

"That's... complicated," Harry hedged.

"See what I mean?" Ron ad libbed.

"If I may," Dumbledore interrupted, "What was it that was happening in your home that you saw the only recourse was to leave your entire universe behind?"

"Oh, where do I begin," Harry grunted, agitatedly pacing back and forth as he listed the reasons. "To begin with, you, meaning our Dumbledore, was... is dead. Severus Snape is the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. Voldemort has openly declared war with the established government of Wizarding Britain. Death Eaters, on the day of Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley's wedding no less, attacked and summarily performed a coup de gras and essentially _are_ the established government now, with Voldemort being the silent mastermind. New laws pretty much outlawing anything that is not a pedigree pureblood of at least a century or more. Goblins running a monopoly on all funds for the magical world and more or less funding the new Death Eater regime. Oh, and let's not forget; Voldemort building a vast army using the dead, dying or soulless bodies of those 'convicted' of not being "Pure" enough and sent to Azkaban, Kissed, or killed on sight. Then turning around and using those bodies to create Inferi, zombies, mindless werewolves brainwashed to serve, loyal vampires, more Dementors, Lethifolds, and pretty much every Dark Creature in the school books and _then some_ and programming every last one of them to do nothing except follow the will of the Dark Lord, and upon his final death, go out and create as much absolute chaos as possible. How's that suit you for 'only recourse was to temporarily leave', huh?"

"That's impossible!" Snape exclaimed.

"Which part? The Dark Army, or you being Headmaster?" Harry monotoned.

"All of it! It's absolute dribble! If the Dark Lord were planning anything of that magnitude, there would be evidence to support it!" Snape argued.

"Except for the fact that we didn't just come from an alternate universe, but approximately nine months in the future. It's all very complicated, but the basis is that all realities more or less run parallel to each other, but due to compositional elements, creation date, separation date, magical, universal, existential, and temporal forces at work, each universe basically runs on it's own clock. Your own universe actually runs about 1.5 times the speed of ours, but the creation date seems to have been about a hundred solar cycles behind. So, instead of being a hundred or more years behind us, your time line is roughly a year behind ours, but you're catching up! So don't worry about that. Like I said; complicated."

"You arrogant—!" Snape started to say, but suddenly found himself lifted out of his chair, looking as though something had him by the throat. Harry was staring right at him, but otherwise hadn't moved.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Everyone else looked about to do the same, but someone quickly put a stop to that.

"The Potions Master is in no danger here," Mahou mo Ken interrupted the Transfiguration Professor. "I believe our... guest is merely trying to prove a point. If he does escalate things to the level of murdering someone, I will stop him." She said this more to Harry than anyone else, but it settled everybody back down.

"I cannot begin to say how much I enjoy choking the life out of you, _Professor_ Snape," he whispered harshly, still everyone was able to hear. "You have called me, and quite obviously my counterpart, 'arrogant' and 'attention-seeking' and 'brat' pretty much since Day One! I would _love_ to torture you so that it would take you _months_ to finally die. But, then there are your reasons for why you are the way you are, and I understand that. So consider this a very, very, very small warning. Next time you call me, or him, 'arrogant', 'attention-seeking', 'brat', or any related synonym... you will _wish_ that I _would_ torture you until you finally die. Understand?"

Gasping and feeling as though his larynx was being slowly crushed inside his throat, Snape tried to nod his head when it was clear he could not speak. After a moment, he dropped back into his seat, gasping and coughing and just breathing for the moment.

"Good," Harry was all smiles suddenly. "I cannot say how long I've wanted to do that."

"Thanks," Harry said in gratitude.

"You're welcome," Harry said. "Now, where were we?"

"Are you all really from an alternate reality?" Hermione asked.

"Ah! Right!" Harry grinned. "Yes, we really are from an alternate reality Hermione. I'll provide proof later on if it is still required. Now, there was something else... Oh yeah!"

"Reasons we're here instead of there! There, we're already in hiding and pretty much on the run from the Ministry, since the Ministry is pretty much Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Originally, I was just going to train my friends here in a new type of magic that I've somewhat recently become a master of, and while they learned and became adequate enough, we would annoy and strike out against Voldemort and his Death Eaters until their forces were sufficiently diminished that we could pretty much wipe them out in a single battle, while simultaneously getting Moldy Shorts annoyed enough with me that he _would_ commit every single last one of his resources against me. Then I found out that wasn't working and revised it to pretty much incite the entire magical community to rise up against tyrannical rule with me as the figurehead. Then I found out about the Dark Army."

"Now the plan is to make each of these three here," he paced around to behind his friends and placed his hands on Hermione and Ron's shoulders, "just as strong, powerful, and skilled as I am, so that when we go back, there are four Battle Mages to deal with the Dark Army instead of just one and his apprentices."

"Battle Mage?" Ken questioned.

"Me," Harry pointed at himself, pacing back around to the center of the room.

"Who was your teacher? I have heard of this discipline, but I was not aware of any that actively practiced it," she asked. "Perhaps this man may have a counterpart in this reality that could assist us, should the same events come to happen."

"He's a Time Wizard, named Joshua," Harry answered with a straight face.

Every experienced witch and wizard in the room suddenly paled and grew ashen-faced, leaving all the students to wonder what that meant.

"You... were trained, personally, by a Time Wizard?" Dumbledore stuttered.

Harry nodded. "Twice. In two different... disciplines as Ken-sama called it. Battle Magic and Magical Counter-Intelligence/Espionage Fieldwork." Seeing the lack of understanding in their expressions, he said again, "Battle Magic and Spy Magic."

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, until he starts making you run laps," Ron mumbled.

"If it helps any, I've also passed most of my O.W.L.s and was only a year from taking my N.E.W.T.s, but to be quite honest about it, that was a mere formality as after the sixth year, everything else is just theoretical, review, and practicing enough to not need review in the future. And I am also an Accredited Mage of Winding Circle Temple, and a Licensed Professional Mage, graduate of Lightsbridge University." Harry further listed his credentials to all of them.

"I am afraid I am unfamiliar with those last two institutions," Dumbledore subtly questioned.

"You wouldn't be, as they do not exist in this reality," Harry answered him. "Trust me, however, when I tell you that as much recognition as Hogwarts gets you, Winding Circle and Lightsbridge _each_ meet that reputation on their own. It's just one is for what they call Academic Magic, and the other is for Ambient Magic. So I probably know more about magic than just about everybody in this room."

"What is Ambient magic?" Hermione, sitting next to Harry and Ron, asked.

"Complicated," Harry said after a second to think about it.

"Oh fine, if you won't answer their questions, then I will," Hermione, having been sitting quietly behind Harry all this time, stood up. "Academic Magic, the way he explained it, is the way of using magic that requires rules, rituals, patterns, almost a science to their use. It's much like wizardry, except that they use different methods of performing spells. Academic Mages, as they're called, have an internal magical ability that, through training and understanding can be built up to perform spells, gaining strength as they get older."

"On the other end of matters, however, Ambient Mages are each connected in some unique way to a specific... element of magic. Sometimes fire, air, or earth. Sometimes they're connected to a skill, such as metalworking or gardening. Nevertheless, where Academic Mages learn to build up their own magical strength, Ambient Mages must learn to increase their control, as they're always connected to the same element of magic, and their strength is governed more by their control over it rather than how much force goes into each spell."

"So... you're both an Academic and an... Ambient Mage?" Harry asked his counterpart. "And a Battle Mage, a Spy Mage, and a Wizard on top of all that?"

Harry nodded in reply.

"Wow. And I thought learning Japanese magic was tough," he mumbled.

"But how is that even possible?" Hermione nearly screeched. "You don't look older than our Harry, and you claim to have experienced much of the same things that he did, and clearly you went to Hogwarts! So how could you have learned all of that and really become so powerful?"

"It helps when your teacher is a Time Wizard," Harry said to her.

"What does that even mean?" she crossed her arms in annoyance.

"What it means," Hermione gave her Harry a glare as she answered her counterpart, "is that Harry was taken to different planes of existence and the wizard that did so is capable of making it seem as though no time has passed at all. As for Harry's age, he turned seventeen about a month and a half ago."

"My story is very complicated, so let's not overload everyone at once here, OK?" Harry pulled Hermione back and sat her back down. "My point in telling you all of this is so that you might as well consider me an honorary Professor at this school, except that I only have three students. We will require accommodations, unlimited access to the school, and everyone's cooperation in our training. Which means give us rooms, food, and leave us all alone."

"OK, now you're starting to sound arrogant," Harry warned his counterpart.

"Food here yet?" Harry asked, ignoring the jibe.

"It shall be arriving momentarily," Dumbledore assured the young man, eyes twinkling like supernovas.

"If I may," Ken stood up, "Why is it that you automatically assume that these people would give into your demands so readily? My apprentice is correct, and it is the signs of an arrogant man when he does not bother to request or ask, and merely informs after the fact."

Harry nodded his head, accepting her criticism. "My apologies. But if Hogwarts does not provide for us, we're going somewhere else. And Dumbledore doesn't like wild cards. He's still not convinced we aren't some elaborate illusion or some other factor of Moldywart's or another Death Muncher's plans. Plus, my Dumbledore did something recently that really pissed me off, so I'm disinclined to show him the proper, if any respect at all. The Bodyguard of the Emperor of Japan, on the other hand, does deserve my respect. So I apologize." He bowed shortly, keeping his head down for a full ten seconds before righting himself.

Mahou mo Ken merely nodded, bowing shortly in return, then resumed her seat.

"What did he do?" Hermione, sitting next to Harry, innocently asked.

"He pretty much tried to manipulate me into letting Voldemort kill himself, while sacrificing pretty much the whole world in order to do so," Harry smiled, looking right at Dumbledore as he replied.

Professor Dumbledore gulped and hid his near-mummified hand within his robes.

"Found all the Horcruxes yet?" Harry asked, still staring right at Dumbledore.

"I..." the old wizard started to say something.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about now, Potter?" Snape interrupted. "Or should I say Evil-Potter? That is often the way things work when dealing with mirror images of people."

"Do you want to see how little air there is in the upper atmosphere? Because I am more than willing to accommodate you," Harry threateningly shot back.

"There are three more that I am mostly certain of," Dumbledore finally answered.

Looking around, Harry saw the Diary and the Ring sitting behind glass cases against the far wall. "Still haven't gone to retrieve the fake Locket then. Fletcher stolen the fixings and other stuff from Grimmauld Place yet? No? Good. Which just leaves the Cup, Diadem, and Nagini. I should probably go take care of that while I'm here... Ah, but after lunch!" Finally, the food had arrived, brought by House Elves.

"Oh good! I'm starving!" Ron practically dived upon the offerings, only to be held back by the girls.

"He gets like that, I'm sure you understand," Harry excused him.

"Only too well," his counterpart agreed. "Let's eat, shall we? Our own lunch was interrupted."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Harry shrugged, not apologetic in the least.

"You don't act like my brother," Maya muttered under her breath.

Harry glanced back at her and then looked back and forth between her and his counterpart for only a second before turning his full attention to the arrived food. Once everything was passed out and the new arrivals sat down and eating, he asked between bites, "So, like I said, we'll do this while we eat. Any other questions you want answered?"

"Oh yes," Dumbledore started to say, but was soundly interrupted by Ken.

"However, they can wait. Since the Headmaster has seen fit to accommodate your... demands, you will obviously be spending enough time here that you will have ample opportunity to answer those questions. Except for one of course. What are you going to do next?"

Harry smiled at the woman, biting into a sandwich after he did so and spent about a minute chewing and swallowing that one bite. After his mouth was clear, he slowly answered, "Well. Probably the first thing is get some sleep, but I don't think we're tired enough for that just yet, and we will have to get acclimated to the time change, and the sooner the better, right."

He took a few steady sips from his goblet, before finally telling them, "The immediate plans are for me to resume training my friends, in relative solitude. If you want us to attend classes or whatnot, keep in mind that Ron, Hermione and I are Seventh Years, while Ginny is a Sixth Year. Beyond that, nothing is set in stone just yet. Why? Would you have something to offer, Mahou mo Ken-sama?"

"I might," she cryptically replied.

_Hogwarts Lake_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Later that Afternoon_

"I had a feeling that there were things you wished to discuss with your counterparts that did not require the presence of the Headmaster or his staff," Ken said as she stood exactly between the two groups of four.

On her right were the visitors from another universe; Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny. On her left was her students and his friends; Harry, Maya, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville. Those on her left were all dressed in the Hogwarts school robes, while those on her right were mostly dressed like muggles, in jeans or pants and shirts and jackets.

They had all walked down from the castle, and the Headmaster's office specifically, only about fifteen minutes ago. There, Neville and Luna met them at the Main Hall, almost waiting for them. Upon seeing Ken leading the group outside, they soon fell in step, which drew an expression of mild surprise from her student's counterpart, but no one said anything to exclude the new arrivals, therefore they were allowed to join the gathering without incident. There was also something else about the other Harry, which she could not immediately put her foot on, that which further singled him apart from her second apprentice.

This Harry nodded and bowed with the proper respect for her station, a mere formality, but she could tell he also conveyed his thanks with the act. "Thank you, Mahou mo Ken-sama," he verbalized. "There are... secrets that, despite the best of intentions by those that believe themselves to be wiser, should not be said casually, no matter to whom."

"I trust Ken-sensei," Harry stepped forward to speak with his counterpart.

Harry nodded in acknowledgment, then turned and raised an eyebrow in Ken's direction.

She nodded and bowed in understanding. Somethings, no matter how trusted the person, were private.

"My apprentice," she spoke to her Harry, "I appreciate your support and your trust. I return it to you now. What he has to say to you is for your ears only, and I am sure making allowances for my First Apprentice is stretching the bounds of privacy enough as it is. I do have other matters I must give my attention to. If you all will excuse me?" She merely nodded once in the other Harry's direction and then immediately walked back up to the castle.

"I like her," Harry said to Harry, even as she was still within hearing range. Then, he suddenly began pacing in a wide circle around the gathering. "She's a good teacher. And if half of what I've heard about those bearing the title of Mahou mo Ken, a powerful warrior as well."

"She is," Harry replied.

"So... what is it that you needed to speak to us about?" Hermione asked after a moment's silence.

"I'm rather wondering about that myself, actually," Hermione supported her double, crossing her arms as she watched Harry walk around them for the second time, knowing he was actually raising wards for privacy and protection. He'd done it all the time when they were meditating, until they'd learned how to contain their magic on their own that is.

"Basic history-comparison," he told them. "Different things have happened to each of us, and while for the large part we are the same people, those differences can pop up at the worst time and cause unnecessary conflict. So, I figured the sooner we got this over with, the better. Hermione, since you're so impatient, you get to go first."

"What?!" both of them screeched. "Why me? Why not you?"

"Uh, cause that would take too long?" both Harry's said in unison.

The Hermione's blinked, surprised by the answer as much that it was said together. "What do you mean?" they asked, unable to help themselves.

"That's going to get _really_ annoying," the Ron's muttered.

"Tell me about it," Neville agreed with a wince at the other pair in stereo.

"You want to, or shall I?" the Harry walking around asked the one in the center.

"I have a guess, but I think you know. So please, by all means," he stepped back to let his double speak.

"OK, fair enough. I'm actually four Harry Potters fused into one being. He's a single Harry Potter that is being trained by a foreign dignitary, specifically the Prime Bodyguard for the Emperor of Japan. I beat Voldemort in battle, single handedly, twice, not to mention have been responsible for the deaths or vanquishes of over one hundred Death Eaters or otherwise dark creatures. He has a magical sister that he shares a very unique bond with. Comparing the differences between us would take the better part of the afternoon. You two, and Ron and Ron, can relate almost any differences that you do have, to your relationship with either one of us. Likewise with Ginny and Ginny. I figured we'd get the easy stuff out of the way first."

"Oh," Hermione mumbled looking down.

Her counterpart sighed and rolled her eyes up. She'd gotten used to this kind of treatment after a month of it now. "You know, you never did finish showing us the tricks that go along with inanimate object transforming," she idly remarked as he finally finished walking around the gathering.

"Oh, that stuff's easy," he snorted, waving it off. "Just focus your magic into the inanimate form and then in the same way that you shape a spell, you can then move yourself. It requires the same suffusing your magic throughout your entire body, but you've all gotten a lot better at that. If we hadn't had to go on this field trip, I would've given you guys a basic test tomorrow... although I guess that'd be today now, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, but it just goes to prove my point," she continued. "You're only bringing information to light when it suits you! Or when we come across a situation where we _need_ to know right then. Well, it would be nice to have these explanations ahead of time, before we're in a life or death situation!"

"I have been kind of acting like Dumbledore, haven't I?" Harry winced. His friends glared at him, while his double was no help by just shrugging helplessly, before nodding in reply.

"All right, fine! I'm sorry. But I kind of can't help it. I've been flying by the seat of my pants pretty much from the word 'Go!' You want to know the real reason I started training you guys, Hermione? It was on the spur of the moment, and it was more convenient for me if you already knew. There! It's out in the open. I didn't start teaching you Battle Magic because I wanted to fight Voldemort, I started training you because that way I wouldn't have to hide it, like _he_ had to," he pointed at his double, "when _I_ had to train myself! Then the coup happened and we had to leave sooner than expected, so I took us to the one safe place that I knew of. Then I wanted to start fighting back... and you guys catch me and tell me to stop, so I have to start teaching you for real instead of just basic self-defense stuff. Then there was Diagon Alley..."

All of them looked down at the ground at that, seemingly sad and depressed about something, but he continued anyway. "And I have to come up with some other way of striking back against them all, and finally came last night, when I went to the Ministry and found evidence of what Voldemort is planning. I'm sorry, Hermione, but I don't have some master plan on what to do. I may act like a superhero, but believe me, that's as much an act as anything! I may have four lifetimes of experience and magical training, but I'm still only 17 years old, so don't look at me like I'm Dumbledore, all right? I'm not hiding things. I'm still figuring it all out, all right?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry, Harry, it's just... You never used to be so..."

"Commanding," Luna suggested for the floundering brunette.

"Yes, thank you, Luna," she replied with a smile. "So, Harry, when you're not forthright with information, it seems as though you're hiding things from us. And I know that you're not, but could you at least give us a proper explanation about things. Please?"

"Hermione, the explanations you require would take a full year of classroom lecturing to go through," Harry laughed. "You require everything to be put in a precise, logical order. I've done my best to explain all I can about what I'm trying to teach you, show you, and what we're doing. But to be perfectly honest, there is no precise logical order. Sometimes you figure out the ending before you even understand the beginning with half this stuff! The Mirror? I only know what it is, what it does, in a _very_ basic understanding at that, and how to make it work. Other than that, you could probably figure more out about it than I will ever know! The Vaults of Hogwarts? I told you, I _found_ them during our day off when I came to see Snape! And I don't like sounding like Binns all the time, so I reveal little tidbits in hopes that you'll _figure it out yourselves_. Now, will you please stop whining about the way I explain things? Please?"

She rolled her eyes, but smiled and nodded. He sighed in relief and then turned back to everyone else.

"Anyway! Back on track. Hermione's, you're up. Don't really need to know about childhood stuff, though I'm sure there are a few differences there too. Let's start with Hogwarts. First Year. The Train. What did each of you do?" he asked them.

"Uh, well, I was rather nervous at the time," Hermione glanced back and forth between her Harry and this sudden double that seemed more powerful than even her friend had become.

"Shortly after settling in, I changed into my robes as soon as the train started moving. Then Neville came by, looking for Trevor, his toad," Hermione picked up where the other left off.

"Oh yes!" she said, suddenly getting into the recollection, "And we'd looked through two cars when I came across Ron and Harry sitting in their own compartment, with candy spread out all over the place!"

"Then Ron tried that silly little spell that Fred and George had pranked him with, the one to turn Scabbers yellow! It didn't work of course. Then I fixed Harry's glasses and we talked about him for a minute or two," Hermione added.

"Note to self," Harry interrupted, speaking more to himself than his counterpart or the Hermione's, "Every rat named Scabbers that I come across, I will kill." Everybody moved a step away from the powerful mage at that, but he motioned for the bushy-haired brunettes to continue, and so they did.

"Let's see... oh, right! That's about the time Malfoy came in."

"Buggering little ferret..." the other Hermione muttered, seemingly angry about something.

Confused, she gave her counterpart a look before continuing, "Anyway, after Malfoy left, we arrived at the Hogsmeade station about half an hour later and then we went in boats across the lake to the castle. Professor McGonagall was there to greet us and Hagrid, then she lead us into a waiting room and then from there into the Great Hall to be Sorted."

"Obviously, we both were sorted into Gryffindor. Is there really a point to this, Harry?" Hermione interrupted her double.

He glanced back and forth between them for a minute or two, before finally stating, "After we invaded the Department of Mysteries and fought the Death Eaters and Voldemort, I, meaning Harry Potter, went back to the Dursley's for the summer. After the first week, whose letter did I receive first?"

They both had on their 'confused' expression.

"What are you talking about Harry? Professor Dumbledore gave us strict instructions not to send any mail for fear of Death Eaters tracking the owls," she answered him.

Her double, however, had a different answer. "What are you talking about? Harry, Ron and I maintained a steady correspondence throughout the entire summer. We even went to his house in Surrey at least once a week!"

"No, Harry went to stay with the Weasleys for the last half of summer, after Professor Dumbledore retrieved him to hire Professor Slughorn," Hermione argued with her double.

Turning to the Ron's, Harry suddenly asked, "Who did you go to the Yule Ball with in Fourth Year?"

"Padma," Ron answered immediately.

"Pavarti," Ron said at the same time.

"How could you even tell them apart?" the first Ron asked.

"Harry asked them to wear nametags," came the short reply.

Harry winced, saying, "Wish I'd thought of that. Then again, wish I'd have been a different me on that night, too. Would've made things a lot simpler, and more fun."

"Who did Ginny go with to the Yule Ball?" he then asked.

"Dean Thomas," Ginny answered.

"Neville," her counterpart replied, causing Ginny and Neville both to blush fiercely.

"I didn't start dating Dean until the latter half of my fourth year," she commented to everyone.

"OK, so there are differences," Hermione finally huffed. "That's to be expected really. Why is that important again? Most of those differences actually have to do with our relationship with you, or their relationship with their Harry!"

"True, but what's your favorite color?" he asked her with a grin.

"Blue," she shrugged, not understanding the question.

He turned to the other Hermione with an expectant look on her face. She flushed and said, "Violet."

"See? The little things. The _point_ of this little exercise is so that everyone can understand, as different as the Harry's are, there are still little things that are still different. And neither one is right. You could argue all day that her favorite color should be blue because it's your favorite color and she's you, or vice versa. Or maybe the way that you hold your wand is slightly different and you try 'correcting' your double and that could lead to a very unnecessary fight. The big things will be obvious. The little things are what could start a war between the same people. Get it?"

"Got it," his friends all mumbled, but still understanding the lesson in action.

"Good! Now, the real reason for our little powwow," he turned to his own double, facing right across.

"You were acting a little arrogant earlier, you know that, right?"

He nodded. "Little bit of that was an act. Most of it was that I've always wanted to stick it to Snape like that, and a little bit more of it was that I'm still pissed at Dumbledore for what he did to me."

"What was that?" Harry asked, concerned.

"He took away my free will. My choice. He heard the Prophecy so many years ago and on the night that it came to pass, he already had all the dominoes in place to fall in an exact pattern. Even after going to Hogwarts and even getting to know him, he still _manipulated_ me into a specific set of actions that, quite frankly, were overall stupid. He never _ONCE ASKED ME IF I __**WANTED TO DO THINGS *HIS* WAY!!**_"

The storm clouds that had been building overhead and flashing lightning and very loud thunder suddenly dissipated and it was all clear blue skies once more. "Sorry. I'm still kind of sensitive about it."

"Right. I can see that," Harry accepted with a straight nod.

"What did you mean earlier?" Maya interrupted. "When you mentioned teaching them a new spell, about changing inanimate objects? What all have you been teaching your friends?"

"Not much," Ron mumbled.

Harry shrugged. "I've really only had time to teach them one spell," he sheepishly admitted.

"Haven't you been... training them, for over a month, you said?" Hermione asked, putting her hands on her hips with that look she got whenever Ron abused his powers as Prefect.

"It took us over a week just to master animal transformations," her double told them.

"Not to mention self-transfiguration," Ginny added.

"And roughly about two or three days ago, he showed us how to turn into inanimate objects, he calls it," Ron put in his two knuts. "Then he goes on to show us these little tricks that twist the laws of magic, according to Hermione, like allowing us to cast spells on ourselves when we're currently a broom or a statue or something. Then there's changing directly from one form to another without returning to your normal state and... it's harder than anything McGonagall ever taught us, that's for sure!"

"And that's why, in only a month, I've only had enough time to teach them one spell," Harry pointed out.

"Definitely harder than Japanese magic," Harry gulped.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, necessarily," Harry corrected his double. "Japanese magic is very concerned with the elements. I haven't even started them on that yet, but for you to learn any Japanese-style magic at all, you'd have to start with learning the elements."

"Well, Ken-sensei is a good teacher, and she's given me a lot of help," Harry grinned.

"Plus, she gave him a little more help than normal," Maya added teasingly. Harry glanced back at her and frowned, then hit her on the shoulder with a soft punch, much the way a brother and sister would.

Harry looked his counterpart over, then Maya, then his counterpart up and down once again, finally settling for staring at his head. Finally, after about ten seconds, he arched an eyebrow and nodded. "She taught you how to form a mindscape and then transferred a large portion of her own knowledge and experience to you. Direct mind-to-mind transfer. Very risky. Impressive, but risky. Tell me, do you guys have any afternoon classes today?"

"How did you know that?" Harry snapped.

"Uh, I didn't, that's why I asked about your afternoon classes," Harry cluelessly replied.

Narrowing his eyes, Harry reiterated, "No, about what Sensei did for me."

"Oh, that. It's obvious," Harry shrugged. When his double wouldn't stop staring, more like glaring really, he sighed and shrugged again. "Your method of Occlumency is different from your standard Wizard variation, especially the style that Snape _tried_ to teach. That style is like a solid brick wall, or to be more accurate, an old-style shield. Not a magical shield that covers the entire body for a limited time, but a physical piece of metal or wood that knights and soldiers of old used to use. Very blunt, very uni-directional, very single-oriented. Not very versatile."

"The kind of protections that I can sense that you're using now are based more upon the Mind Arts. Anything the mind can create, can be as real as anything in reality. It's very distinctive, not to mention very instinctive as well. For one trained in the Mental Arts, such as myself, it's very obvious which style of protection you employ in defending your mind."

"Mental Arts?" Harry repeated.

Harry shrugged. "I'm a Battle Mage."

"Yeah, what does that even mean? And everyone earlier reacted strangely to when you said that you were trained by a Time Wizard. What does that all mean?" he asked.

"It's complicated," came the short reply.

"That's not going to work on me," Harry chuckled at his twin, stepping forward.

"Sorry, but what might 'that' be?" Harry tilted his head in curiosity.

"The whole I-am-the-mysterious-sage thing," Harry said, still grinning. "I know because I've thought about doing that same thing a million times. As I thought about it, and you're doing it, you've obviously thought the same thing. In other words, it's not going to work."

"Hey, I'm finally free, so to speak. No school, no guardians or meddlesome Headmasters manipulating me into doing something, no responsibilities beyond those that I choose to claim. Forgive me if I'm just at little carefree in my appreciation of newly found adulthood. Still," Harry shrugged, sharing the same grin his double sported, "Even if 'that' is the case, then you would know..."

"—you have to ask the right questions to get the right answers," Harry finished for him. "Before that, though, I'd just like to tell you... you're kind of being an ass about the whole thing."

Harry shrugged, still grinning. "Adults have the prerogative to act like an ass if they want to. Still... I'll try to work on that a little bit, OK?"

"Just a bit of friendly advice," he shrugged back. "After all, that is why one looks into a mirror, no? To see the faults within themselves and identify them as needed."

"Hmm... Speaking of which, you ever have much trouble controlling your temper?" Harry asked, absently noting how his double tended to keep at least one hand on his sword at all times.

"What would you know about my temper?" Harry asked, thrown off balance by sudden changes in topic.

Harry just gave his double a knowing look. After a second of that stare, Harry forcefully calmed down and stepped back. "Sorry," he apologized. "I suppose out of anyone, you _would_ be the one to know about my temper, huh?"

Harry shrugged, an understanding look covering his expression. "I can help you with that, if you'd like."

"I'd like it if you'd just give me a straight answer, for once," Harry growled, annoyed.

"Then ask the right question," Harry growled right back, teasing.

"What is a Battle Mage?"

"A Warrior. Trained to use magic as a weapon. I enter battle and I emerge victorious. I wage war and I win. I fight and I fight and I fight and I fight until there is nothing left to fight. I kill and subdue with ease and no distinction between the two. I _live_ for conflict and I _enjoy_ what you call Dueling as a sport. Next question," Harry said, straightforward and reflecting the tone he received in the question.

"What is a Time Wizard?"

"A being capable of controlling, traveling, altering, manipulating, and existing within Time Itself," he answered. "The being that came to me called himself Joshua. He gave me a choice when I was 11 years old. I made it, he actually split me in two. Where once was one Harry Potter, suddenly there were two. One was left behind, the other taken by him to a pocket of Space/Time that was connected to multiple worlds and was trained as a Battle Mage. At the exact same time that Warrior-Harry was being trained, Joshua went back in time to when I was a baby, and shortly after my first birthday, split baby Harry into two, one left behind to grow into 11 year old Harry, the other taken to another world where he was raised as an orphan boy in a Temple of Magecraft. When he turned 11, he was given a choice. Be split in two and have a chance to see my home again, or make a new home where I was living. It wasn't really a choice, but it had to be offered. When I turned 17, all four Harry's were brought back together into me. Next question."

Harry was silent for a few seconds, digesting what he'd been told so far, then asked, "What are those Mental Arts you mentioned, and what difference is there between what Ken-sensei taught me?"

"The Mental Arts are a Skill, or branch of Battle Magic. Difference, primarily being is that what you've been taught is about bringing the body and mind into sync with one another, bringing about balance for the spirit and soul. What I do, is _all_ about fighting. Fighting mentally as well as fighting physically. Where you could defend yourself as well on the mental plane as you could on the physical plane, I can wage war on the mental plane just as easily as I can in the real world. In short, you defend your mind and when you try and attack another, you're merely trying to gain access to their mind. Me? When I defend my mind, I cripple the attacker so that they never _can_ try to attack me ever again. When I attack a mind, I destroy that mind. Period."

"Anymore questions?" he crossed his arms and gave his double a look.

"Not at this time, but I'm sure you won't have any problem answering others that I come up with later on, will you?" Harry asked. After receiving the acknowledgment from his double, he then asked, "Now, what was that about _my_ temper?"

Harry lifted an eyebrow. The other one shrugged. "I used to be one, instead of four. I remember what it was like before I had three times 7 plus years of training dumped into me."

"Alright, point taken," Harry said, a little gruffly. "I do have a temper problem when people I care about are threatened... but then again, I bet even you would lose your temper when someone you care for is hurt."

Harry shrugged, his face oddly devoid of emotion, then nodded, allowing the point. "Fair enough. But I still think I could help. Keep the little annoyance from becoming a big problem."

Harry stopped pacing for a few seconds, thinking about what his double said. He had lost his temper quite a bit lately. Perhaps the old adage was true – power corrupts. "Sure. I can always use more help."

The other Harry grinned, and extended a hand. "And it'd be my pleasure to provide said help... brother."

Harry grinned, and shook the hand. "Great. As if I didn't have enough problems with just a sister."

"Hey!" Maya complained good-naturedly.

Both Harry's laughed, then grinned and both of them held out and shook their hands at the same time.

"Now, about afternoon classes?"

Next Time on _4 In 1 To ∞_:

Harry continues training his friends while getting to know their alternate selves, and learning more about one another. Meanwhile, Harry offers to help Mahou Mo Ken in teaching his double, and Harry introduces the Next Spell! Plus, AWESOME Mindscape action all around!

What will the Next Spell be?

What about back Home and the Dark Army?

What about Dumbledore and the Hogwarts Staff and Students?

What does Harry's Mindscape look like compared to his double's?

The answers to these questions and more, hopefully, next month in _4 In 1 To ∞ _Chapter 2: _More_ Training!


	2. More Training!

Title: 4 In 1 to the power of ∞ (Infinity)

Author: Joshua

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowlings and company. All the fanfics that will be crossed over herein are the intellectual property of the various authors that I get actual permission from, and they will be given due credit and immense gratitude at the head of each chapter where there story is intermingled.

Summary: Finding that things were worse than they appeared, Harry has taken his friends on a reality-spanning training journey in hopes of increasing their skills and powers in time to save their home reality. MULTI-Crossover!

Continuing with the next chapter of my very good friend, Enterprise1701-d's fanfic Mahou mo Ken!

Story:

_Hogwarts_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Clearing By The Lake_

"OK, first things first, I think that we need to begin by meditating," Harry said to his friends, who all groaned at this announcement. "Oh, don't start with me. Because we all get to run around the lake afterwards." The groans increased in volume. "Home team excluded as I don't really get to tell you guys what to do or not, but you are more than welcome to join us."

"Uh, yeah, sure, whatever," Ron mumbled.

Hermione, Ginny and Maya glared at the redhead sloth, then nodded that they would be glad to join in. Neville looked back and forth between the two camps and tried to smile and nod, though it was clear he wasn't sure of his decision.

"You guys meditate?" Harry asked his double and friends.

"Helps with magic control," Harry said back. "You're more than welcome to join us."

"Thanks," he said, sitting down along with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. Maya quickly joined in.

"I still haven't gotten the hang of that meditating thing," Ron grumbled as he was pulled down by his sister beside Hermione and Maya. Neville sat down beside Hermione, slowly settling himself into a meditative pose along with everyone else.

"Took me a while too, mate," Ron said to his double. "But it's worth it. Harry showed me how meditating helps in increasing the power and use of my spells, even showed us how we could cast wandlessly through this. Hasn't shown us _exactly_ how to do it yet, though," he glared at the still-standing Harry.

"You kind of have to figure it out on your own, Ron," Harry replied. Then he jumped back and was suddenly sitting cross-legged in mid-air. "Begin when you're ready, I'll keep an eye on your progress."

"Is there a reason for the casual displays of magic?" Hermione, next to Maya and Neville, asked him.

Harry shrugged, still sitting cross-legged midair. "Makes things easier. Also, I'm kind of showing off and I know that it sounds arrogant of me, but it's not arrogance if you know your limits and stay within them. Plus, there's not enough room on the blanket."

"What blanket?" she asked, then looked down and saw that they were now all seated on a cotton red and gold Gryffindor Lion quilt. "How...?"

"Eh, I need practice on basic conjuring," midair Harry shrugged again.

Harry's three friends were already deep into their meditation, each of them breathing almost in sync with one another. Breathing in, holding, breathing out, all to the same pace. Their bodies soon relaxed and Harry, on the blanket, almost envied them for how easy they made it look. Sensing mild amusement at his jealousy from their connection, Harry grinned over at his sister, then closed his eyes to catch up.

"Uh, we're meditating," midair Harry quietly told him and Maya, while hovering himself upside down and right in front of the two of them. "Not entering the mindscape. There is a difference. Also, our kind of meditating hasn't progressed that far, so please don't skip ahead of the rest of the class, please. Thank you."

Harry rolled his eyes at the friendly teasing, then asked, "So, what kind of meditating do you use?"

"I'll walk you through it," Harry said, flipping himself back upright, and then floating around to Harry's blind spot. "First, close your eyes and just breathe. That's it. Now, listen to your heartbeat and breathe in, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Hold the breath, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Breathe out, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Breathe in... Hold... Breathe out... Breathe... Hold... Breathe..."

Harry kept his voice soft, slowly lowering it as they progressed, noticing how now all of them were breathing to the same pattern without any difficulty. "Now," he kept his voice hypnotically low, "Feel, with each passing breath. All of the air flowing into you. Through you. Through your body. Sustaining you. Giving you power. Feeding your magic. With every exhale. Feel your magic grow. Flare out, like the flames of a fire. Inhale. Hold. Exhale." He timed each word precisely, most said during the held breath.

"Reach deep inside," he progressed the meditation. "Feel out your magic. Feel the pulse of your heart. Your blood. Your magic. Feel your core. Find it, reach for it, and let it fill you up, filling every cell of your body with it's power." He winced as seven bodies lit up with a blinding amount of magic. "Good," he struggled not to sound pained by the glare, "Now. Imagine one object, something small, something familiar, something that you know. It can be anything. Now focus all of your magic deep down into that one object. Don't let it frustrate you. Keep at it. Keep breathing. Feel the magic flowing. Feel it flowing down into where, and what you need to place it in. Focus, and feel it happen."

The glare of magic slowly faded. After about five minutes, his friends were normal and had successfully and fully contained their magic within themselves, while their counterparts, and Maya, were down to an intermittent glow. His own counterpart, however, was as bright as ever, though that could be placed at the feet that there was just still so much, even though his magic had dimmed quite a bit!

He floated himself upside down once more and put himself right behind his double's ear, and whispered, "Focus. Don't lose concentration. Don't let it frustrate you. Keep to the task and it will be done. Focus. Breathe. Feel."

Finally, the magic dimmed to a bright glow, then a muted glow, and by the time even Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had completed the exercise, Harry's once blazing aura was non-existent, all of it contained within.

"Good," Harry said to all of them, speaking low. "Now, pull out your magic from that one object, only a little bit at a time, and once more fill your body with your magic. Once you've done that, put it back into that one object and do it again. Keep focus. Feel the magic flow. Don't let it flood out, only a little bit at a time. Barely anything at all. Good..."

Harry walked them through the control exercises another five times before calling a halt to it. They'd only been meditating for an hour when he talked them out of their meditations and let them stretch to work out the kinks of staying still for so long.

"That... that was amazing," Harry admitted to Harry.

Harry, still sitting midair, shrugged. "Basics of magecraft. Can't work with magic if you can't control it, and the only way to control it is through proper mental discipline. Hence, meditation is taught to every mage first thing. Teaches them control and thus is the basis for their magic use. Don't take this the wrong way, but you seemed to be having the most trouble of all."

Harry blushed, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Uh, yeah, well..."

"When we have some time later, I'll show you a few of the magic control exercises that I use myself," Harry interrupted any excuses that might have been coming. "I can't tell you how bad my control was after I was fully merged. Took me almost a solid month, altogether to get my control back up to where it is supposed to be. Still working at it, in fact. It's not a weakness to have too much magic to control. Quite the opposite, for most. It does, however mean that you need to work at control harder than everyone else."

"How come you haven't taught us these advanced techniques yet?" Ron asked.

"Cause you don't need them. Yet," Harry answered patiently. "Don't take this the wrong way, Ron, but to make any use of the techniques I'm going to show him, you would need roughly twice the amount of magic that you currently have at your disposal. At _least_."

"Also," he said as an aside to Harry, "I actually didn't learn them officially, I just came up with them on my own while learning to control my own magic. Personal training you might say."

"Now," Harry clapped his hands together as his feet touched the ground, "Can anybody guess what time it is?" The smirk on his face was absolute, pure, 100 percent total evil incarnate.

"It's time to run," Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Maya all said with differing tones.

"Right!" Harry exclaimed enthusiastically. "Give me a minute to take down the circle and then you can get started." With that, he began walking around the gathering as he had at first, but this time going in the opposite direction.

"Why is he doing that?" Hermione asked her double. "And what does he mean 'circle'?"

"Harry places protective wards around us whenever we meditate, telling us that it's just a standard precaution that he was trained to take when dealing with magic. He wouldn't go into detail about it, but from what I gathered, whenever a mage, or witches and wizards in this case, is meditating, their magic is controlled more by their subconscious than their conscious minds, and thus have a tendency of releasing bursts of harmful magic until the person learns the proper amount of control."

"Not exactly, but close enough," Harry, passing them for the third time, interjected.

"Well, then why don't you explain it better?" she challenged him.

"How could magic be harmful? I mean, what you're speaking of is like Accidental magic, yes?" Hermione questioned the other Harry.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about," he answered. "Accidental or not, given off in enough quantity, at the wrong time, and the wrong kind of magic in the wrong place... It's unpredictable, but it's potentially dangerous just because of that. I could give the whole lecture, but I just finished pulling down the last protections, and you guys have laps to run." Seeing they were about to argue, he interrupted any protests.

"Hop to it!" Harry smirked. "At _least_ one lap around the lake. Jump over obstacles using martial arts training, but stick to the shoreline. If you _any_ of you decide to go past one lap, and then can keep up with me for one full lap, I will teach the lot of you anything that you want me to teach you, and I'll have you learn it before the day is out. But. Keeping pace with me for a few steps isn't enough, you have to stay even with me, or even ahead of me for one full lap."

"You're going to use _Lightning Shoes_, aren't you?" Hermione grumbled.

Harry shrugged. "If I went at your pace, I'd still be running by the end of next week before I even got winded," he told them. "I won't start my laps until every last one of you have completed one lap. So if you're not participating, please say so now."

"Uh, wanna go play chess or something?" Ron desperately begged his double.

Sighing in frustration, and remembering an earlier conversation, Ron merely took off his jacket and bent down to lace up his trainers. Hermione likewise began to stretch her legs, while Ginny took off her blouse and tied it around her waist, leaving her in her green stretch tank top and denims. Harry nodded in appreciation of the work his counterpart had done in training his friends so far. He took off his own robes, and though he had not yet had an opportunity to replace his dragon-hide armor, for just running, his undershirt and pants would do just fine. The school-issue shoes, however needed a quick transfiguration, which he took care of forthwith.

Maya glanced around her, then shrugged and stamped her staff on the ground before a wave of magical energy engulfed her, leaving her in a blue and white kimono, though the bottom half seemed to have been cut away as it left Maya's legs almost fully bare, save for her socks and sandals. At her brother's incredulous look, she just grinned at him and stuck her tongue out, before dashing off at full speed in a counter-clockwise direction around the lake. Harry quickly caught up, followed instantly by Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.

Ginny, Hermione, Neville and Ron watched as their friends and counterparts took off, running faster than they themselves believed it possible for them to run. Harry looked at them, half-expectantly, half-curious. After about half a minute, they both seemed to come to a decision.

Ron ran back up to the castle as fast as he possibly could, barely running a sixth of the speed his counterpart was clocking. Ginny and Neville quickly disrobed to shirts and pants, transfigured their shoes, and raced to catch up with their friends. Hermione, however, turned and faced Harry and stepped forward.

"I have more questions," she told him, crossing her arms expectantly.

Sighing, as he knew the expression on her face all to well from his own Hermione, he nodded and said back, "You have until Ginny and Neville get back, then I'm starting my run and the only way I'll answer any more questions would be if you could keep up and continue asking, all right?" She nodded and started asking.

Half an hour later, a bunch of red-faced, heavily breathing Gryffindors, with only two exceptions, came jogging by and Harry gave Hermione an apologetic shrug as the last of them crossed their position. He then got up and quickly caught up with the group, despite doing so in the middle of answering her last question. Harry and Maya were both at the lead, but they made sure to encourage everyone else along, keeping them almost bunched up together. Ginny and Hermione were offering the same support to Ginny and Neville, while Ron ran with a single-minded determination.

"Enjoying the workout?" Harry asked his double, who looked winded and was breathing heavy, but still looked like he could run a while yet.

"Considering that this is my second time today running this course, yeah, I am actually," Harry answered with a smile. "Did you enjoy Hermione grilling you on everything that she thinks is impossible?"

"I _don't_..." the Hermione behind them started to protest, but Ron quickly shushed her.

"Honestly?" Harry said, "It was, word for word, the exact same conversation that I had with my own Hermione when I revealed what had happened to me and I started teaching them Battle Magic. Except that the conversation ran short because Ginny and Neville made good time for newbies." The exhausted and red-faced Gryffindors just kept jogging, probably because if they did anything else they would collapse outright.

"Remember that deal I made with you all?" he suddenly asked them.

"Yeah, I take it that's sort of an incentive to get them," Harry gestured behind them at Ginny, Hermione, and Ron, "to train harder? Ken-sensei does something similar, only she does this thing where she shows us what she promises to teach us first, and then expects us to complete the exercise before showing us even one thing more."

"Something like that," Harry grinned openly. "Only my exact wording was that I will teach all of you whatever it is that you want me to teach you, and I'll make sure you know it before the end of the day."

"And what makes you think I want to learn what you have to teach?" Harry shot back.

Harry laughed, all of them still jogging and only just coming around the first bend of the lake.

"I could go on with all the bribes in the universe, telling you everything that I could do," he said, "and you could just keep acting like you weren't interested until I either told you everything I could do, or recanted the offer. So tell you what. No matter the spell, Western, Eastern, Battle Magic or something else, I will teach the lot of you one spell, no matter what spell, _IF_ even one of you can keep up with me for one full lap around the lake."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Maya teased.

"We're about to pass the Whomping Willow's clearing," Harry pointed out. "That's the point where I start my real workout. I'm not joking about what I said either. And keeping up with me doesn't necessarily mean having our feet move at the same speed. It just means that you pass that clearing close enough to the same time that I do, just as many times as I do. Since the beginning, I've made this deal with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny here, right guys?"

Sour-sounding grumbles came as reply, to which Harry laughed at. "So far, none of them have been able to keep up with me."

"You use a spell to make yourself move faster!" Hermione protested.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean there aren't still ways for you to keep up with me despite that. Have you tried just Apparating next to me every ten feet?" he offered.

"It's impossible to Apparate in Hogwarts!" Hermione reiterated, again.

Harry just shrugged, even as he formed the spell construct in his mind, without seals. "Well, try thinking outside the box then, Hermione. Though I might suggest, if my double here can actually keep pace with me, or if his lovely sister can instead, have them ask me to teach you all the Lightning Shoes spell. Might make things easier in the future when I offer this challenge again."

"What kind of spell is called Lightning Shoes?" Harry asked.

"This one," he replied with a smile. "Ready! Set! GO!" Then he vanished.

"Grrr! I _hate_ it when he does this!" Ron growled, suddenly accelerating himself to his top speed.

"What... where did... how...?" Harry and Maya were both at a loss as to what happened.

Then quickly realized it as they looked across the lake and saw a dark streak moving around the edge at considerable speed. "OK, I'm officially impressed," Harry muttered to his sister. She nodded mutely, then suddenly smiled wickedly.

"That's nothing," she said, "Tell me, Harry, has Ken-Sensei taught you Shinpou, the Flash Step, yet?"

"Not yet," he replied.

She turned to look at him, her eyes gleaming in that wicked fashion he had come to love and dread. "Wanna learn?"

"Of course!" he declared. She nodded, and a burst of information through the link had him running behind her, grabbing her around her waist.

"Feel the magic as it moves through me, ototokun."

He let out his breath, feeling out for the magic deep within her, again becoming aware of her glorious amount of control, the influence she had over her own magic, the way it shaped and responded to her slightest touch and thought. The world blurred around them, coming into focus barely a fraction of a second later, before blurring again an identical fraction later. Each jump had them dozen of meters further, catching up to Harry in rapid pace.

_Can you feel it?_ Maya asked.

_I can feel it_, Harry replied, stepping in sync with her. He was merely planting his feet, not yet stepping himself, not willing to disrupt her rapid pace.

_Focus on where you want to go, and let your magic carry you_, she instructed. _You do the next step_.

The world blurred into focus, and Harry's eyes locked onto the likely next destination. Forcing his magic through what he had felt from Maya, he felt the world blur out of focus around him. As it blurred back into focus, he became aware of two things.

The first was his next destination.

The second was a resounding crack as his feet struck the ground and his magic carried the two of them to the next destination.

Extreme-short-range teleportation indeed.

Flashing past the running Harry, both Harry and Maya lifted one hand as they briefly blurred into existence before vanishing again, only to reappear another dozen or so meters further down the shoreline, before vanishing again, rapidly taking distance from him. Each time they appeared, a resounding crack threw dust and earth up into the air.

_You're using too much force, ototokun_, Maya lectured. _I'll take the next one. Watch me._

She indeed took the next step, Harry holding on for the ride once more. _I see. Next_, he replied, taking the next step in her stead. The crack was a lot less. She took the step after that again, once more showing him the correct method. The step after that was his, and it was nearly silent.

_Thank you, Oneesama_, he replied as they blurred into existence at the starting line.

They waited patiently for the other Harry to appear, watching as his blurring form came to a sudden and abrupt halt with no sign of effort on his part.

"So, you'll teach us everything we want to know?" Harry asked with a lifted eyebrow, a pleased smirk on his face.

"Never underestimate the first Apprentice of Mahou mo Ken-sama," Maya said, adding her own smirk. "Besides, that was an excellent opportunity to teach my little brother the Shinpou."

"Flash steps," Harry translated, nodding. Then he shrugged. "I always keep my promises, but I've only just started my workout here. You guys want to keep running, or would you like to begin extra lessons now?" he asked with a wide grin.

"I'm actually curious to see if you can keep up with us now," Harry laughed with his double. "And I think I still need to work on my own Shinpou a little more anyway. Plus, the pressure would be on you, for once, as you also promised that you'd teach all our friends one spell before the end of the day and," he glanced up at the sky, "you're kind of running out of time."

"I promised everybody that was running," Harry hurriedly reminded him. "And that won't really be a problem, unless you decide that you want to learn a technique so advanced that it would take a year for anybody, ourselves included, to learn it. So, we still running, because I'm not even winded yet."

"Oh, you're on bro," both Harry's turned and posed like professional runners for a moment, right before they both disappeared in a flash of movement.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Maya called after them, flashing away herself.

"Slowpoke!" Harry called back at Harry, each step taking him farther around the track, and exercising his body as well as his magic. Suddenly, every single time the world stopped blurring, his double was right there beside him.

"You didn't think that I started off at my top speed, did you?" he asked as they both flashed around the lake. "You always start off slow and then accelerate, warming yourself up. You never start a run cold, otherwise you risk cramps and other discomforts. See if you can't keep up the speed after your feet land. Mess around with it, see what you can do and what you can't do. Oh, and, uh, try not to slam into any trees. Might get messy."

"Personal experience?" Harry laughed at his twin.

"Oh yeah!" Harry laughed with him, remembering. "Well, see ya!"

Harry noticed how his double brought both his hands together and then formed a series of hand seals, right before clenching his fists and throwing his arms behind his back as he leaned forward, and then he just seemed to blur away and pull ahead. That is, until Harry made his next jump, and he saw the other Harry just ahead of him, running at a perfectly normal pace... while the world around them blurred out of focus.

_What the HELL?!_ Harry screamed inside his own head. A moment later, Maya was right beside him.

_Harry? What is it? What happened?_ she asked him.

_Watch,_ he told her, taking her hand and pulling her along into his very next jump, and pointed ahead to where his twin was running along at an impressive pace, while the rest of the world was racing past at an insane speed. Then he blurred away again when the world came back into focus and they both had to take their next step and jumped again, and saw him even further ahead, moving at the same speed they were.

_He's moving at a pace similar to sensei,_ Maya said, somewhat grudgingly. _I haven't progressed that far in my training yet._

_He agreed that we already won his deal, and this is just his own workout,_ Harry thought 'out loud' between the two of them_._

_Well, he did admit that his stamina is so great that if he ran without the aid of this spell of his, he'd still be running a week from now without even getting winded. This spell he's using _now _must put even more pressure on his body than the Shinpou does with us. Why do you think Ken-sensei has us running all the time?_

_Good point_, Harry acknowledged his fellow apprentice's logic. _Is there a way of increasing our speed again? I mean, doubling up on the Shinpou, or maybe even cutting out taking a step at regular speed but taking it at the same speed as when we're moving at full speed?_

Maya seemed pensive for a moment, and they both noticed how the other Harry was steadily pulling ahead of them as they, more or less, decelerated for just a moment for each step while he remained, more or less, at a constant.

_Ken-Sensei has told me that I am not yet ready to learn the next step of Shinpou, _Maya replied, somewhat dully_. There are techniques in Shinpou that allow a person to move so fast they leave afterimages, or to be able to move so fast that it appears as if an attach struck target, however, you are already in safety. _She sighed. _We're not ready for those techniques yet._

_In other words, more experience is needed first,_ Harry sighed. _Did she ever explain how that was possible? I mean, surely Sensei is a master of Shinpou!_

_Don't overestimate yourself, ototokun!_ Maya rebuked him. _You're still making too much noise and wasting too much energy at your current speed. If you really want to learn your '_brother's_' magic, then ask him to teach you the spells he just used!_

Suddenly, she altered her steps so that she was pretty much a full step ahead of him and nothing he did allowed him to catch back up. Not without knowing how and what she did, anyway. He looked across to the other side of the lake, where he saw his double still running along, well as long as he was doing the Flash Step that is, otherwise all he saw was a vague blur.

"OK!" he suddenly heard shouted across the lake, and quickly 'flashed' so he could see his double clearly once more, only to see that he was the one shouting.

"I'm going to finish up my workout on my own now. Since Harry and Maya were both able to keep up, I'll be showing you guys whatever spell you all want to know. Meet you by the Whomping Willow when I'm done. Uh, and guys, walk Ginny and Neville through a cool down, they look like they're about to collapse!"

The next thing that Harry knew, there was the sound of thunder, or actually more like a sonic boom, and he completely lost sight of his twin, until he accelerated again... and saw a streak of color coming up from behind him, and then moving past him before he could turn his head! Then had to take another step and all he saw was himself and Maya, and their friends across the way in the clearing by the Willow.

He took another step, putting more force behind it and trying to extend his next stepping point. Sweat was trickling down his face and back in small rivers now, and his breathing was labored, but he knew he could go on a little while further.

During his next flash step, he saw the streak of color again, only this time he seemed to be moving fast enough now that he could see past that and identified his double, blurry and blazing past, but he could see that it was the other Harry Potter. Apparently using an even more advanced spell that let him move _beyond_ Shinpou speed! The very brief glimpse that he got, however, showed that the other Harry was now looking just as labored as he was feeling, so clearly this more advanced spell put even _more_ stress on the body than anything else he'd used so far.

Deciding this was his last lap, Harry focused more on Maya and catching up with her than Harry, seeing how impossible that was for him at the moment. He also decided that he rather liked the thought of being able to move that fast with only a spell or two. Then, he thought, there's also the idea of using Shinpou while using that Lightning Shoes spell for some breakneck speed right there!

Flashing into existence next to his Hermione, who screeched at his appearing out of nowhere, Harry almost collapsed to the ground, but knew better by now. Waving tiredly at his friend, he walked over to join Ron, Hermione and Ginny in their cool down exercises, Maya already a few steps ahead of him.

"Did you see how fast he was moving?" he asked her out loud. "I think it's safe to say what spell we'll be having him teach us, huh?"

"Nope, I'm going to get him to teach us a Copy spell," Ron interrupted.

"What's a copy spell?" Harry asked, then winced as the answer popped into his head almost immediately, "I mean, what's a Battle Magic copy spell?"

"Oh, you'll see," Ron grinned.

"Apparently," Hermione, currently stretching her back by reaching high and arching her back and rotating her hips a bit, "Harry seems to know almost every variation of the Copy spell there is, though we've only seen him use around three or four variations. The way that it works is that, depending upon how much magic you place into the spell, you can make any number of copies of yourself. The different variations come in that you can base each copy on a different kind of element. Shadows, Darkness, Air, Water, Earth, even Blood. Each element affects the copy differently. Using your own shadow, the Copies are perfect copies of yourself, and can even cast their own spells and have all of your knowledge, and when they dispel, you then have all of their knowledge."

"Using your own blood, however," Ginny interjected, even as she was bending over to stretch out her legs and thighs, "you get the same result, with some major differences. Shadows aren't really there. So while the copies can do manual labor and cast spells, they disappear easily and in fact if they get hit even once they're gone along with any effects they produced. Blood Copies, are more like clones. They're you and until _you_ dispel them, they'll stick around and can even substitute for you and fool everyone and everything. They can even be killed in your place. Good way to fake your own death if you're ever desperate, as all it takes is a few drops of blood."

"Then there were those Darkness Copies he used when Riddle attacked," Ron continued. He shivered, as did the girls, very similar to the way Harry himself did whenever he remembered encounters with Dementors.

"Don't ask," Hermione said to them, noticing their looks. "You really, really don't want to know."

"Almost wish I didn't," Ron mumbled.

"So, uh, how many... copies can he make?" Harry asked.

"An army," all three answered together.

"How many is an army?" Maya questioned.

"He once offered to make one thousand, all to renovate the Burrow," Hermione answered.

Harry and Maya both blinked. They knew their sensei was the best, but hearing about a wizard that can do all the things he's claimed to have done, and on top of all that, he can literally make an army of himself whenever he wants to was a bit much!

"So... uh, what about the spells he's already taught you?" Harry asked in hopes of changing the subject. "There's got to be something more than just casting spells on yourself, right?"

"Yeah, that's just the latest stuff he's shown us. We're... well, we _were_ still working out the details of how to do it, but he outright told us earlier," Ron answered. "And he's only taught us one spell. With... lots of variations covered by it."

"Variations?" Maya repeated, confused by the term.

"Harry's taught us self-transfiguration," Hermione finally revealed, currently moving her body through the movements for the Water style of martial arts that Harry had taught her. "Parts of that include changing to look like other people, exactly like the Polyjuice potion, but without the time limit and cast with a spell instead of a potion. Also how to change into animals, and inanimate objects. Much like the Animagus transformations, and human transfiguration... except on ourselves and we're not limited to one animal either."

Both apprentices to Mahou Mo Ken and their friends sitting nearby, stopped moving and gave disbelieving looks to their 'guests' while they silently digested that information. Finally, Hermione blurted out, "You're having us on... aren't you?"

"No, why?" Ginny asked, confused by their sudden disbelief, even as she continued moving through the patterns for the Air style.

Harry and Maya exchanged looks, wondering what to say next.

"That... that... _that's impossible_!!" Hermione blustered.

"That's what I thought... until Harry did it in front of me and showed us how to do it," Hermione reprimanded her counterpart. "Keep in mind, the transfiguration spells that we've been using and Harry's been teaching us is Battle Magic, not Wizardry or Witchcraft. The rules are different."

Harry and Maya shared a look, thinking the same thing, while Hermione just stared, her jaw dropping near to the ground in shock. Ginny and Neville were listening but they were too tired to really follow along.

"So... how exactly _does_ Battle Magic work?" Harry asked, nonchalant.

"By focusing and manipulating the magic directly with only your mind and your will, no other mediums," Ginny answered them, slowing her routine down a bit. "Instead of casting the spell through words or movements or even picturing the end result and willing it to happen, we focus the magic to create the 'shape' of the spell, an abstract mental construct that is more felt out than imagined or pictured, and then channel the magic through that shape to create the ultimate effect. Hand seals are sometimes used as mnemonic devices to help in recalling certain 'shapes' faster and more effectively than feeling out the 'shape' for every single spell."

"Sounds a bit like the way Ken-sensei taught me to create my mindscape..." he said to himself.

"Wouldn't know, we haven't gotten that far yet," Ginny wryly commented.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Maya asked, looking at the barely-visible blur still circumnavigating the Hogwarts Lake.

"Don't know," Ron shrugged, doing leg squats now. "Last time Harry went all out in his workout... he lasted for about an hour or so. Of course it's like five in the morning for us by now, so he might just consider this the morning calisthenics."

"Which last two hours," Hermione put in, still moving through a few Water katas.

"But it's late afternoon here," Ron continued, "and for the past few weeks, Harry's been running us ragged and we pretty much exercised the entire afternoon when Harry wasn't directly tutoring us in magic."

"Meaning, coaching us in performing self-transfiguration," Ginny added.

"In other words..." Harry began to ask.

"It will take as long as it takes," Maya finished for her brother.

"Unless he actually pushes himself into using the Ultimate form of the spell," Hermione said out loud.

"Ultimate form?" all those that didn't know repeated.

"Instant Movement," was the short reply.

"Think we can get him to teach us that?" Maya asked.

"Not a snowball's chance in Hell," Harry's voice said from directly behind the Japanese teen.

Managing not to scream, Mahou Mo Ken's First Apprentice still jumped as she spun around, her heart beating much quicker than it was a few seconds ago. "Do not do that," she warned him.

He just shrugged and grinned, giving his double a wink.

"So, you guys decided?" he asked them, still grinning.

"Why is it you can't teach us Instant Movement?" Harry asked him.

"I promised to teach you something before the end of the day, provided that it wouldn't take _years_ to learn in the first place. I'll go ahead and add another limitation. I won't teach you anything that could kill you if you don't do it right the first time." Harry told them this with a deadly serious face, and there was no sudden shift to a wide grin to make them think it was some kind of joke either.

"I want to learn a Copy spell," Ron said. "Even if you teach us Lightning Shoes and show us how to improve to cast the higher level spells, you could always change the offer later on to some other requirement! Way you explained it, the Copies transfer what they learned back to you when they get dispelled. That's more valuable to learning than just running fast."

Now Harry grinned. "Very good deduction, Ron. I'm glad you've taken my advice to heart. So tell you what... _**Shadow Copy **__**Kaleidoscope!**_"

Harry, Maya, and the others all watched as the shadow at Harry's feet seemed to come alive and darken, right before spreading out into a spiral with him at the middle. The tendrils of shadow suddenly began to form up out of the ground, like animated mud almost, until they were all as big as a human, and then began to fill out until they were the same shape and size as Harry himself. That's when the color came in and within a few seconds where there had only been two Harry's before, now there were nine! Two, of course being real, while the others were all Shadow Copies.

"Now there's one for everybody that actually ran laps," he stated, moving over to stand next to his real double while all the copies moved next to each of the others that would be learning. "Even though it was only Harry and Maya here that could keep up, I did promise that all of you would be taught. Still, it's not exactly fair to make them the ones to decide what all of you will learn. But the limit remains. One spell, something easy, and something that won't kill you if you screw up. Tell them what it is you want to learn, and they'll do their best to teach you the Basic Spell."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all shared a look, and said together, "Copy spell."

"Basic Copy spell it is then," Harry gestured to the copies, who all nodded back before turning to their respective 'students', and gesturing for them to follow.

"Neville, Ginny, Luna?" he offered.

"Any spell?" Neville asked, still sweating from the run.

Harry just grinned and shrugged again.

"I think I'd like to see things more clearly than I do right now," Luna dreamily said.

Harry and the copy next to Luna both winced. "Uh, Luna, are you sure about that?" the real one asked. She just smiled and nodded, not really looking at either of them.

"What?" Luna's friend asked his double.

"She wants to learn how to see magical auras and magic itself," he replied softly. "_Not_ an easy skill to master. Easy enough to teach, but the ones that can naturally do it sometimes go insane. That's not a euphemism by the way. I'll have to make sure she has a handle on it before we leave. Which will, hopefully, be in a few months time, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."

"Luna's... eccentricities have nothing to do with her mental capacity," Harry quietly growled back.

"I know, she has perfect Occlumency shields," was the surprising reply. "It tends to cut off a lot more perception of the real world when focus is settled wholly on defending and protecting one's own 'self'. When I said insane, I meant that they can no longer tell the difference between the 'magical' world their viewing from the 'actual' world that relies on input from the eyes, ears, and touch. I'll show you later..."

"Neville, Ginny? Any preferences?" Harry asked them, after a momentary conference with his double.

"Could you teach me those Seals that you, er, he... uh, I mean that Harry and Maya use?" Neville asked.

Raising an eyebrow at that, all the Harry's and Maya shared a look.

Ginny, unaffected by this bold statement, said, "I want to learn how to deflect magic like Harry did that day he humiliated Draco!"

The copy standing next to the redhead almost looked relieved at that. "Looks like I got the easy job, Boss," the copy remarked to the original.

"Go, use the Room of Requirements if necessary," said original told the copy. Quickly, a Harry and Ginny left, the former practically dragging the latter from the clearing to hasten her along.

"Seals?" Harry turned to Harry and Maya with crossed arms and a curious expression, once everyone but them, Neville and the other Hermione were gone.

Harry and Maya glanced at one another. _Somehow, I doubt destroying the _REAL _Whomping Willow will win us any points for the House Cup,_ he silently said to her.

_Never judge things at face value ototokun. This is as much an opportunity for us to learn more about your mysterious doppleganger as it is to show off Ken-sensei's teachings. Ask him to create targets for us,_ she suggested.

"We're going to need something to hit," Harry replied to his double's question.

Smirking, Harry turned out towards the lake, and when they looked again, eight targets of various composition had formed along the shore. There were two each, indicating a set of targets for both Harry and Maya. One was just a 10-foot stone monolith. Another was a wooden figure dressed up in dark robes and with a rather distinctive mask covering the face. The last two were pure elemental fissures; a sparkling ice column and a towering inferno that did not spread or catch fire to anything around it.

"How did you...?" Hermione started to ask, but her shock overwhelmed her curiosity and her voice failed her. Harry answered her anyway.

"It's part of my Mage training at Winding Circle," he said. "I know I told you guys that I'm an ambient mage, and I apologize, but I didn't really go into what... 'magical element' that I'm attuned to. Turns out I'm an Elemental Mage. I knew a girl back at Winding Circle, stayed in the same... dorm I suppose, as me and a few other mage kids. She could control the Weather, but she did this by tapping into the various elements, primarily wind and water, but earth and fire as well when needed. Lightning was a favorite of hers."

"Anyway, took me a while, but we finally figured out that while she tapped the elements to create and control weather, I can tap the elements directly and do whatever the hell I want with them. Want a canyon, no sweat. Need to flood a desert, piece of cake. Have a problem with forest fires or arson, easy as pie. I can fly too. Manipulating the elements directly is actually a step above using them to create weather. For one, weather is just the after effects and side effects of the elements interacting with one another. Me? I can change that interaction so that the elements do something else entirely."

"*Bragging alert*," Harry coughed, loudly.

Glaring at his double briefly, he gestured at the eight waiting targets. "If you would please?"

Harry glanced at his sister. He didn't even need to use their mental link, as she shook her head slightly, and took two steps back.

"Step back, everybody," Maya said.

The people from the home universe, not hearing Maya hand out warnings too often, stepped back with single-minded determination. the visitors, seeing the others move, followed docilely.

Harry closed his eyes, and held out his hand.

A single seal appeared in between his fingers.

"Here it comes..." Neville whispered.

Suddenly, the seal glowed blue, detached itself from Harry's hand, and FLEW over to the central area above the targets, affixing itself to it with deft precision. Suddenly, it started growing.

Still a playing card in shape, it grew to something five times as large, as Harry's voice finally cut across the silence. "Harry Potter, Plasmatizer, asks the Seal, what are you!?"

The voice that replied was deep and menacing, and made the ground tremble.

_I am the atmosphere! One who fills the air like white mist! _

And just like that, all eight targets and most of the shoreline immediately around them were just _gone_!

Closing his eyes, and averting his face, Harry felt the blast wave of the detonation wave over him long before the sound and the heat did.

"Did you HAVE to use the Major Arcana!?" Maya asked.

"Seeing how this was my one chance of showing off," Harry replied. "Yes. Yes, I did."

Maya looked at the remainder of the shoreline, water only now starting to fill in the crater left by the magical equivalent of a thousand-pound bomb. "You're lucky you didn't kill the Giant Squid."

Harry paled. "Damn. Forgot all about him. And the merpeople."

Maya walked to what remained of a once pristine shoreline. "Seems they were smart enough to run for it once the targets went up. I can't detect a hint of blood." She turned to look at him, crossing her arms, and looking quite angry. "You were lucky."

"And stupid," his double helpfully added.

"I was," Harry replied, nodding. "It was never my intention to hurt anything or anyone."

"Next time you decide to pull out the Large Arcana, remember that they are cataloged as SIEGE BREAKERS and ARTILLERY magic for a reason," Maya snapped. "You shouldn't keep throwing Seals around like that."

"Sorry," Harry whispered.

"So let me get this straight," Harry suddenly stepped forward between the two magical siblings. "Sorry for interrupting, but I just need to understand," he apologized to Maya before facing his twin, "You've been throwing around _Artillery magic_ like they were stunners and 3rd Year jinxes? Right?"

Looking annoyed now, Harry shrugged and nodded his head.

"Cool," Harry grinned at his counterpart.

"Thanks... Hey!" Harry snapped back as he realized exactly what he'd been asked. "I _know_ that Seals are considered artillery for a reason! _You_ don't have to keep shoving it in my face, all right?"

"Personal experience?"

He shrugged, looking out over the lake briefly, "Bit of a scuffle."

"Death Eater attack?"

"Hogsmeade. They... they grabbed Luna. I chased after them."

"Using the... Seals, before or after they grabbed her?"

"Before. I chased after them and either deflected or used spells after that point."

"Would it have made a difference?"

"Huh?"

"If you'd used something other than artillery-grade spells before they grabbed her, would it have made a difference if you'd used just stunners or whatnot?"

"..."

"Well?"

"Probably not," Harry finally answered him.

"How many did you kill?" his twin's voice took on a grave tone, and Harry knew he was being serious.

Paling a bit, Harry scratched the back of his head as he answered, "A... a few..."

"It doesn't get easier," was the quiet reply. "But after you make peace with yourself over the actions... it's not as hard." He waited a moment as they both composed themselves, then continued with the conversation, "Now, I'm still having trouble understanding what the difference is on these seals here that you're using. I personally use hand-seals, but those are like saying the words of the spell. This is clearly different."

Harry and Maya both nodded their heads acknowledging what he was saying. "It is, a bit..." Harry started to say, but Maya interrupted.

"I thought you said that you were familiar with Japanese magic?" she pointedly asked.

"I'm familiar enough to recognize it when I see it, not do it myself," he paused, then continued, "Well, for the most part. I'm actually somewhat good with a few Chinese Spells, and the Eastern Art of Spell-Control." At the blank looks he received, he clarified, "Diverting spells around and throwing them back at the caster."

"Ah," both Harry and Maya understood.

He snapped his fingers and a single set of the four separate targets appeared this time. "Now, if you would be so kind... Again!" he ordered, a hint of playfulness in his tone. "_This_ time, without going overboard. I'd like to see a bit of a variety please. The last spell was an appropriate use of this style of casting, but obviously you don't use that specific one every time you use these seals. Use some spells that really explore what all that these Seals of yours can do. Please."

Harry nodded and resumed his spot and snapped his hand out, retrieving four blank seals as he drew it back and closed his eyes. When his eyes snapped open, they were shining with power.

"Wait!" Harry interrupted him.

"Whu... but I thought..."

"Try using what you just learned from your mediation, and your run from a few minutes ago. You were using _way_ too much power for what I think you have intended. Bottle it all down to that one object, and then draw forth only what you need to do the spell. Now please, try again."

Nodding, Harry frowned for a moment as he considered that it should have been Ken giving him instruction, but this was different. Wasn't it?

Taking the Seal held between his thumb and fingers he cast it out, holding the other three back and cried out, "Harry Potter, Plasmatizer, asks the Seal, what are you?"

_I am Burning Hell, bringing Punishment to the Wicked! I ride through the Skies in a Chariot of Fire!_

A man-sized fireball raced out and burned the wooden figure to ash, and then reduced the ash to free-floating smoke that quickly evaporated as the spell and target both vanished. Harry took a deep breath and flicked out his next seal, "Harry Potter, Plasmatizer, asks the Seal, what are you?"

_I am a blade, a white blade! I am the one who dances like a mist and cuts the enemy into pieces!_

A nigh-invisible wind blade arched out and sliced the stone pillar to sand, and then blowing it all away. He quickly kept up his momentum and didn't wait a full second before sending out his last two seals, attempting something he'd been working towards, but hadn't had much success with.

"Harry Potter, Plasmatizer, asks the Seal, what are you? What are you?!"

The first flew on, heading right for the water pillar, while the second seemed to hesitate almost, even as the first cried out with the same ominous echoing voice.

_I am ice and snow, white ice and snow! I am the one who becomes a veil of ice that freezes everything!_

It struck and froze the water pillar so it was now an ice pillar, and it had even spread a bit to the flame pillar, but that quickly thawed itself out. That's when the second Seal finally answered.

_I am the raging storm, the perfect storm! I am the one who ravages and drowns your enemies!_

From the seal a small, focused hurricane ripped out and threw itself against the two remaining pillars. The winds were strong enough to shred the ice pillar and make icecubes for elves! It also poured out enough rain and water that the fire pillar was doused almost immediately and once Harry saw that all four targets were downed, he released his hold on the spell and the elements returned to normal.

After that little show, he felt suddenly drained and took a few deep breaths. Surprisingly, his double was right there handing him a cup of water. Briefly wondering where it had come from, he forgot all about asking as he downed the cool refreshing liquid. "Thanks," he said.

"No problem," Harry said, before turning back to the rest. "And I do apologize Neville, I can't really teach you that particular skill. I can, however, show you some alternatives that can be used both close, mid, and long range. If you're interested?"

"Uh... yeah, I-I guess," the 6th Year Gryffindor hesitantly agreed.

"Great! Allow me to demonstrate first of all," he said to all of them before stepping around to the shore.

"It's called Direct Elemental Manipulation, and surprisingly lots of people can do it, it's just they all do it in slightly different ways. Me? I can actually do them in five different ways." Harry explained. Then he began to show off a bit himself.

Taking a deep breath, Harry spun around and then breathed out... a HUGE fireball that actually rippled the surface of the water from the force of it's energy, despite that the fireball didn't come close to the surface in the slightest. Once he ran out of breath, the fireball disappeared, but Harry wasn't done yet. He reached out his hand over the surface of the water and began to move through a basic Water kata, a trail of water from the lake following his hand and flowing around him in time and pattern with his movements.

After a minute or two of dancing with the water, he finally put it back in the lake, and then punched the earth at his feet. A Quaffle sized rock suddenly exploded out of the ground and hovered about three feet above it. After a moment to allow his audience to realize what they were seeing, Harry punched the rock with his fist, which, to the surprise of everyone watching, shattered on impact before dissolving into sand, the sand then moving up and onto Harry's body. After a few seconds, his entire body was covered by the stone gravel, right before it seemed to liquefy into sand, before all that seemingly became invisible.

"Stone Skin armor," he told them. "Makes me somewhat impervious to most physical damage. Not invincible you understand, just better protected. Oh, and remember when I said I could fly?"

Rather than wait for their answer, he just grinned and jumped... and kept going up and up at an ever increasing rate of speed. When he was high enough he was nothing but a dot in the sky, he headed towards the castle, flying around each of the towers at least once, before heading back to the clearing where they all waited.

"OK, so he's slightly better at showing off than I am," Harry muttered to Maya. She just grinned.

With a burst of wind as he landed, Harry removed the Stone Skin armor off as soon as his feet touched the ground, the sand dissolving and falling to the ground just like that. "There is one more element I can control, but I don't really like to showcase that outside of an actual battle. So, Neville, what do you think?"

"H-how are you going to t-teach me all that in just one evening?" Neville stuttered.

"Well, like I said," Harry repeated, "lots of people can do it, they just do it in slightly different ways. I happen to know for a fact that you are one of the people that can do this. Now, you probably won't be breathing fire or flying around before morning or anything like that, but I can show you how to do it, and then the rest is up to you. I don't like to limit people by saying you can only do that by doing this and other hogwash like that. Besides, it's more fun figuring out all the stuff you can do on your own, being surprised every once in a while."

"Oh... o-okay..." Neville hesitantly nodded.

"Come on, Nev, you're gonna love this," the last remaining Shadow Copy said as he took Neville off in the direction of the greenhouses.

"Which just leaves you two... and Hermione? What are you still doing here? I thought you would've gone back up to the castle with Ron after our conversation was finished?" Harry asked, confused.

"And what makes you think I would do that? After all, you promised to teach everyone a spell," she pointed out to him. Both Harry's and Maya quickly corrected her thinking.

"For everybody that ran," they all said together. "You didn't run," the visiting Harry pointed out.

"Oh," she flushed pink and then without a word quickly picked herself up and almost ran back up to the castle. Both Harry's sighed, knowing what that meant from personal experience with the bushy-haired brainiac.

"I'll talk to her later," Harry assured his double.

"How good is your direct elemental manipulation, by the way?" Harry asked him after Hermione had gone.

"I... might need to work on my control a bit more, and it's certainly not at your level," he answered.

"Maya?" Harry offered her the same question.

"Passing Fair for myself," she shrugged off the question, "Ken-sensei is much better than I am, and I have more experience and thus better control than my ototokun here." Harry stuck his tongue out at her.

"Children," Harry warned them, though his tone was just a playful.

"Tell you what," he suddenly turned around and began leading them back up towards the castle. "I certainly don't want to step on anyone's toes here, and Mahou mo Ken-sama _is_ your sensei. It's only fair that she's aware of our deal and there to say what should and should not be taught by an outsider. Shall we?"

_Few minutes later_

_Hogwarts_

_Ken & Maya's Private Suite_

"Nice place you got here," Harry couldn't help himself from saying as Ken let the three students into the suite just off of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Thank you," Ken said in a neutral tone, but both her apprentices could see she was amused.

"Ken-sensei, my... double here has made a... deal with us," Harry began to explain. "If any of us could 'keep up' with him for even one lap during our exercises, he would teach all of us one spell, though the spell could be chosen by the individual. Maya showed me how to... properly perform the _Shinpou_ and we managed to keep up with him for more than one lap. However..."

"Yes?" Ken asked, when it became clear her apprentice was reluctant to speak. She quickly divined the problem, and answered his unasked question anyway. "You're concerned that because you are my apprentice that you might offend me in some way by learning a single spell from this stranger?"

"Well, he's not exactly a stranger..." Harry grumbled, blushing furiously.

Ken smiled at him, sitting herself in a comfortable chair before answering her pupil's concerns. "No, I don't suppose that he is," she said, looking Harry up and down briefly, before turning back to her second apprentice. "Harry, it would be impractical and cruel of me to demand that you learn nothing but what I teach you. You are, after all, still attending Hogwarts, are you not? I have no objection to whatever you may learn from this encounter with Harry here. I imagine it would be quite a learning experience in fact, facing an alternate mirror image like this."

"You guys always do that?" Harry interrupted with a cocky smile.

"Do what?" Harry responded.

"Converse in Japanese like that?" was the questioning reply.

Harry blinked and his cheeks reddened slightly.

"It's good practice," Maya defended her brother, speaking English.

"It's like with Parseltongue, isn't it?" Harry hissed in said language at his double.

Managing to control his blush, Harry just nodded. Acknowledging that, the other Harry nodded back and resumed speaking in English, "I was hoping, Mahou mo ken-sama, if you might enlighten me as to what my alternate has been learning, so that I might offer him something that would compliment your teachings, or even give him an alternative if ever he were disarmed in a fight. What I have offered both him and Maya so far does not seem to interest them, and I must admit that's partially my fault for not displaying what all I have to offer before making the deal with them that I have with my friends."

"I see," the Japanese mage acknowledged. "Then perhaps it might be best to continue my own lessons with young Harry, and allow you to observe, so that by the end of our lesson, you might be able to complete your deal with my apprentices."

Harry bowed his head, and said, "Thank you Mahou mo ken-sama. I would be honored."

"Given how you have exercised your bodies so thoroughly, let's exercise your minds now, shall we?" Ken said to both her students and repositioned herself to one of the tatami mats that were set out in the middle of the room. Another mat was conjured and put in place for their guest as everyone settled in.

A few minutes of meditating later Harry entered his Hogwarts mindscape and waited for the expected knocks on his mental shields from his double and Ken-sensei. Harry had to admit though, he wasn't even sure his double could enter his mindscape at all, despite all the claims he had made so far. He wondered just how different they really were, magically speaking of course. Just how unusual, how much more different this 'Battle Magic' was to what Ken was teaching him.

The answer came surprisingly sooner than expected.

"Nice place you've got here," Harry's voice carried across the grassy hills of Harry's mind.

Harry spun on the spot, staring wide-eyed and confused as he watched... well, he wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but he was pretty sure it was his dimensional twin. He was slowly walking towards him from the gate, but that wasn't what was so confusing. First of all, he was sort of not-really-there, but still there, much like a ghost but not at the same time. Secondly was his mode of dress, which was vastly different from what he'd been wearing in real life. This was more like something out of a fantasy novel, or maybe a comic book!

His alternates mind was represented by a six and a half, almost seven foot tall armored warrior, dressed in Slytherin green and silver armor, with the Sword of Gryffindor and a familiar red and gold lion patch held to his belt, a blue and white-lined cape falling off his shoulders and gloves and boots of bright yellow lined with black edges, along with likewise color-schemed sunglasses and wide-brim had covering his wild hair. On many people it would appear to be quite a silly combination, and the had would look just as silly, but something about him made it look as natural as anything Harry had worn himself.

"What the..." Harry started to ask the most important question, but he couldn't stop himself from saying instead, "What the bloody hell are you wearing? And why are you like that?"

"Huh?" the armored Harry looked down at himself, as though only just realizing his status. "Oh. Sorry. Kinda hard to have an accurate self-image when you're the combination of four individual minds that only recently were merged together again. Here." Suddenly Harry felt a different kind of 'knock' on his shields, like they were coming both from the outside and the inside at the same time and resounding without. Harry let the presence inside, and then his double blurred, and reappeared in the same clothes he wore in the real world, looking entirely the same. "Better?"

"A bit..." Harry acknowledged, wanting to ask how he'd gotten past his mental protections, when he felt those protections alert him to someone knocking. At the same moment, Maya appeared beside her brother, even as he let Ken in as well.

"Hey, why'd you let him in before sensei?" Maya asked, pointing at the other Harry.

"He didn't 'let' you in," the 'other' Harry snapped back at her.

"Uh, that's a very good question. Because I, kind of, didn't have to, I think," Harry started to explain to Maya, but his twin waved it off.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand, the whole magical connection deal," he said, turning this way and that and basically looking the whole place over. Finally, he turned back to him and asked, "Hogwarts? For real? You feel... safe, protected, centered... at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, why?" Harry said back, defensively.

The other Harry shrugged and looked around again, and answered, "Oh, I don't know, maybe having to do with the fact that we were both attacked by a Mountain Troll in our first year, people were getting petrified in our second year and we found out there was a giant basilisk living underneath the school, that there is a clan of acromantia living in the forest," he waved off in it's direction, "Were attacked by a werewolf, dementors, a rogue bludger, a dragon, centaurs, merpeople, other students, Snape, the occasional dark wizard or witch, Hagrid's giant half-brother, witnessed at least one, if not more people murdered in cold blood, and since you're in your Sixth year and you did have to deal with Umbitch, were tortured for the majority of your Fifth year." He paused, "Yeah, that about sums it up. I don't know, I just feel I would've chosen some place, oh I don't know, safe, protected, and where I felt I could center myself and be at peace with my body."

Harry shrugged. "Look at it this way – Hogwarts is where I feel safest, centered, and protected. It is the people that make it dangerous." He spread his arms, and grinned. "And do you see basilisks, trolls, giant toads trying to use the _Cruciatus Curse_, or Greasy Potions Masters running around? Besides, where would you have chosen, the _Dursley's_?"

Wincing, the other had to nod. "OK, got a point there. But me, personally, I probably would've chosen some place like the Burrow, or the Gryffindor Common Room and only the Common Room. Some place where I actually feel... safe, protected, and centered."

"I would appreciate it if you would not insult my student's accomplishments," Ken interrupted.

Wincing again, Harry held up his hands and backed up a step. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Not what I meant. I was just trying to better understand his choices and reasoning. Still, I meant what I said about you having a nice place here. Done... a lot of... renovating..." he trailed off, as he seemed to only just notice the ground they were all standing on.

"Whoa," he said. "_Nice_ hardware. Mind if I copy it for some of my own protections?"

"I thought you were the mighty Battle Mage, the one that could wipe out minds with a single thought," Harry teased him.

"No, I said that because of my training in the Mental Arts of Battle Magic, _when_ I attack someone's mind, I don't just gain access to it, I destroy it. Besides, it's for my more inexperienced self and his mind," Harry told them absent-mindedly.

"Wait, what?" Harry asked for clarification.

Suddenly, the visitor from another universe looked up startled. Apparently, he hadn't meant to say what he'd said. "Uh... I'll, uh, probably show you later. But, for now, how about we continue our discussion from earlier? Please?"

Seeing that it was a sore subject, all three of them agreed and resumed the purpose of their coming to the mindscape in the first place. "Very well," Ken said, "You wished to know what I have taught your counterpart? In effort to understand what spell that you might be able to teach him yourself, yes?"

"Simply put, yes, basically, yeah, uh-huh, sure, why not?" casually-dressed Harry grinned wide. "And let me just say again, this is really a nice place you've got here, bro. A credit to your teacher, who no doubt gave you ample instruction and motivation. I especially like the offensive modifications." He tapped his foot against the grassy hill they were all standing on, the clank of metal sounding with each footfall.

"Somehow, I thought that you might," Mahou Mo Ken's student remarked with a matching grin.

"Anyway, onwards with our agreement," Harry started pacing in front of master and apprentices, speaking as he walked back and forth. "I understand a little bit about the Japanese Branch of Eastern Magics. Dedicated more towards action and the intermingling practices of Bushido, Shintoism, and the Elements than the Chinese, or even the Korean Branches of Eastern Magics, correct?"

"In a very simplified way of putting it, but for the most part, yes, you are correct," Ken answered diplomatically.

"So, to save time and effort, as anything that I'm going to teach your apprentices will require a significant portion of effort on their part, and it would be foolish to make them demonstrate everything they know only to be too exhausted to learn anything else, if you would, please, just list what all you have taught them?" he asked.

Ken nodded and began to list, from the first lessons in building his Mindscape to what they had only covered just that morning, all of what she had taught Harry and expanding what she had focused in teaching Maya before him, and the approximate level of skill and power for both. The full explanation took some half an hour, mindscape-time, but their visitor was nodding and grinning again.

"I've got the perfect spell, for both of you actually," he told them, grinning widely, like a kid with a surprise they can't wait to shout to the whole world. "It's actually more of a magical exercise that I came up with during my Battle Magic training, and it's not really a spell per sé. I suppose to compare it to something you would understand is to call it a magical skill. Like being an Animagus, or even a Metamorphmagus, or a Parselmouth."

"Two of which you've taught Hermione, Ron, and Ginny how to do without the limitations that are supposed to be present with those skills," Maya pointed out.

"Exactly!" he grinned, pointing at her.

"Something that only a few would normally be able to do naturally, but you have a way of teaching so everyone would be able to do it?" Ken clarified. The counterpart of her apprentice nodded, before turning to said apprentice.

"First step, I'm going to need you to create a couple of trees here," he said to Harry. "And not just more additions to the forest over there, but really, really, REALLY big trees. Like, as tall and as big around as one of the towers!"

Confused by this request, but willing to go along, Harry turned to an open space a short distance away and began to concentrate. Slowly at first, but steadily, four tall oak trees sprouted equidistant from one another and grew to just under forty feet tall, big for any tree of that species.

"Uh..."

Harry could see that it wasn't what his double was expecting, more evidence that they were not the same person. "What?" he asked, agitated by being questioned in his own mind by someone that was more or less him!

"Taller... and bigger, please. And fewer branches. Think, Redwood," his double suggested.

Sighing, Harry changed the four trees, growing them until they were nothing but trunks with very small branches and leaves at the very top like a pine tree, measuring to about fifty feet straight up. When he heard his own sigh repeated, this time from a few feet in front of him, he felt a vein popping near his temple. "What now?!"

"Sorry, but I have something specific in mind, so would you mind if I just showed you?" Harry asked, stepping up beside him. "Now, to make sure this works, I'd rather be safe than sorry, so we'll need to stay in contact here, OK?"

"Sure, no problem," Harry nodded back.

"Good, cause this is gonna feel kinda... weird," was all the warning Harry got as the other Harry placed his hand on his shoulder. The second after that, Harry felt pure power coursing through his entire being.

He'd done this only once with Ken-sensei, and a few times now with Maya. With Ken, he hadn't yet been aware enough to understand what he'd been feeling, but with Maya he always noticed how much control she held over her magic, especially when she was casting spells, it flowed like water and felt as calm as silk. His own magic always felt more like a raging river, or maybe a collapsing avalanche sometimes, where he had to struggle to maintain any control whatsoever. What he felt now was so much... more.

First of all, he felt the other Harry, his counterpart there, inside his mind, almost inside _him_! Similar, but... different from the way he felt Maya all the time now. Unlike Maya though, this other Harry felt less like flowing water and silk, but more like... like... well, to be honest with himself, Harry had to admit that he felt like the times when he'd drawn power from the Ley Lines. Like this other him _was_ a living, breathing, walking around _Ley Line_!

Then, he did something, Harry wasn't sure what, and he felt his control over the Mindscape... _shift_ just a bit. It was still _his_ Mindscape, and he was in overall control, but suddenly this visitor to his mind, who he'd allowed access and more or less merged with him here, now also had just a bit of control. Then, that power, that living force that was so similar to a major ley line, channeled some of it's power, no that's not right. Not it's power, it's _thoughts_ into reshaping the mindscape, and before he was even fully aware of this, the changes were already done.

Outside of the merged Harry's, Ken and Maya watched as the four redwoods suddenly _exploded_ with growth, growing larger and taller and wider and the roots spreading even as the trunks grew to heights that towered over the mental Hogwarts castle the same way the castle towered over them!

It all happened so fast and was done so efficiently that by the time they all blinked and Harry had stepped back from the owner of the mindscape the all occupied, the four trees were _massively_ huge! Their trunks were the same size of any tower in Hogwarts walls, but compared to the height, all four were rather skinny, as the trees reached up for literal _miles_ before stopping with a thick, leafy canopy. It wasn't an exaggeration either, as Ken judged that if these trees existed in reality, they would be topped out at the top of the lower atmosphere, reaching into stratosphere.

"Oh," Harry said out loud, after taking a moment to observe the changes to his mindscape. "That's what you meant by 'big'."

The other Harry shrugged. "So sue me. I'm used to trees this size. In fact, this size is about medium compared to a lot of the trees that were around in the dimension where I was trained in Battle Magic. These particular breeds are especially good in training for the type of exercises I have in mind."

"Perhaps it would be best if you began with explaining exactly what magical skill you will be teaching my students?" Ken asked.

"Right, " he nodded to his two temporary students. "This skill is somewhat unique, mostly because even those that can do it, don't really have much reason to do it, so they don't. To put it simply, I'm going to teach you to climb trees. Without using your hands. Harry, would you mind moving us closer?" He smiled enigmatically, before they found themselves moved to just below the four trees, amidst their roots, all of which were underground thankfully with none sticking up or blocking their access to the trunks.

"Thank you. Now then, the key to this is magic _control_. Power and focus is all well and good. But individual spells teach you how to control the magic for _that spell_. I've found that this exercise can usually help in increasing control for your entire arsenal. Allow me to demonstrate first of all." He then turned and started walking towards the trunk of the first tree.

When he got there, he did not pause in his steps, instead merely placing his foot on the trunk of the tree rather than on the ground. To the surprise of Harry and Maya, the next step he took was further up the trunk, and he _didn't fall_! In fact, he was _walking vertically UP the tree_!

Ken had seen things similar to this, although usually it was associated with a specific spell, the 'Sticky Feet' spell for example. But that was only temporary and you had to keep up constant motion, otherwise gravity quickly took over and the person would fall. Given that this particular Harry Potter wasn't rushing, in fact he was walking casually, and when he was about thirty feet up, he paused, stopped, and turned around to face them, Ken doubted that this was anything similar to those spells she was thinking of.

"Impressive," she had to admit out loud. Studying the concept, she quickly figured out the basic principles behind the exercise, and admitted that she had something similar for both Harry and Maya to learn, but they both needed more experience before they were ready for that. Perhaps this other exercise might give them that experience.

"Thank you," Harry called from up on the tree. "Now, if I had bothered to put any branches this far down, I could show you that this works for walking on the ceiling just as well as it does for walking on walls. Just a moment and I'll show you how to do this, all right!"

A flicker of motion later, and Harry was back on the ground next to them.

"How did you do that?" Harry and Maya both wanted to know.

"Like I said, magic control," he grinned and explained. "First up, you channel magic to one portion of your body, in this case your feet. Then, you direct the magic to _pull_ constant and steady. Don't think of anything else, or any kind of spell or wish or though or focus. This is strictly magic control, so it's not just making your feet stick to whatever your standing on, it's tricking you magic to change your personal orientation."

"I don't understand," Harry admitted.

Scratching his head, the other Harry thought for a moment before continuing, "OK, think of it like this. Magic isn't just energy or power, it's directed as much by your thoughts and emotions just as much as it is by wand movements, spells, and focusing energies. When you direct the magic to your feet and then tell it to 'pull', it basically changes your entire body's position in Space/Time. Theoretically, you can use this to 'fly' as well, but I wouldn't try that without a _lot_ of thought and practice put into it."

"Let me guess, Push instead of Pull," Harry chuckled.

"Close," his double shrugged. "There are other forces to take into account than just gravity. In this case, friction. Your feet are in contact with something that is _down_ as far as they can tell, and when your magic is pulling on what the feet call down, then the entire body adjusts thanks to magic. For one thing, done right, it makes it a lot easier changing perspective orientations..." he paused at the confused looks he saw on Harry and Maya's faces, and clarified, "switching from floor, to wall, to ceiling, it feels like all of it is constantly right side-up, even if you aren't. There are other things that this skill will allow you to do, but half the fun is figuring all that out for yourself. Have any questions, I'll be down here with Ken-sama."

Startled, Harry and Maya turned back and forth between the massive tree trunks and the two observing instructors. Gulping, they glanced at each other, then nodded together and took a moment to focus.

"If it helps, you might want to get a running start, but be sure to keep your eyes open," their temporary instructor suggested.

They both nodded and each took one tree and ran straight at the trunks, and began their new training.

_Two Hours Later_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_Hogwarts Mindscape_

"Gaaahhhhh!" Harry gasped as he fell back to the ground of his mindscape.

Maya, next to him, was also gasping and sweating, down on her knees in front of her own tree. They had been training in this Tree Climbing exercise for the past two hours. Maya was able to complete it on the first attempt, running a good distance straight up the tree. After about five minutes, during which she gave him helpful pointers, Harry was able to make the same distance.

After that, Ken had instructed both her students to run until they reached the branches of their respective trees and then to run all the way back down, and to keep it up until they were too exhausted to do anything else. The four in one Harry Potter had been discussing several different things with Ken while this was going on, from his counterpart, her student, Japan's History, Eastern Magic, Battle Magic, lots of things.

Seeing the two just lying there on the ground prompted Harry to ask them, "You guys finished already?"

Maya nodded her head pitifully, while her brother rolled his head around to glare at his double, but could do nothing else. Their power, strength, and what little energy they had left was spent in maintaining their presence in the mindscape more than anything else. Seeing this, Harry and Ken decided to give them a break.

"Next opportunity," Harry said as he and Ken walked up to the two students, "try using this skill in the real world. Preferably the walls of Hogwarts instead of a giant tree in the Forbidden Forest, maybe even try some ceiling walking too. I discussed some of the other things Ken was going to teach you, and surprisingly, some of them sync up with what else I would've taught you regarding this particular magical skill, so she'll be sure that you get just as much exercise in your future training endeavors. Now, I trust that I've lived up to my side of our deal, yes?"

"YES!" they both shouted, terrified at the idea that he would make them work even _more_ if they said anything to the contrary.

"OK, you guys have worked hard," he chuckled. "I think you deserve a treat, so to speak."

"If this treat includes a hot shower, bed rest and a good meal, I'm all for it," Harry mumbled from his position on the ground.

"Actually, it involves something a little bit more taxing than that. Come on, get up." The visitor from another universe helped his dimensional twin to his feet as Maya stood to her own feet, though looking like she might keel over at any second. They were both that exhausted.

"Tell me, and I'm asking you bro," Harry said to his double, "Have you ever been to another's mindscape before? Maya, rather obviously, has, and Ken found you, but what about you?"

Harry nodded once. "Yeah, one time. Maya let me stay in her mind while I was recuperating one time after wiping out my mindscape again."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry shot a look at Ken and repeated, "_Again_?"

She just smiled at him and shrugged, not answering.

"It's to be expected that stress in life can upset and even outright destroy a person's mindscape after they've constructed it, more than once even. Thing is, when _I_ say the word _again_ in relation to something like that, the number of times is actually quite high. As in more than ten times in a row."

None of them bothered answering the outsider, so he just sighed and let the matter drop for the moment.

"Anyway, my whole point of asking, is that I would like to invite all of you to visit my own mindscape," Harry offered. "You've all shown me great trust today, as well as unexpected support. The least I can do to thank you is to show you all the same trust, as well as provide the answers to the questions you have in regards to myself."

"I'm not sure I have enough energy to do something like that..." Harry tiredly admitted to his double.

"Well, you actually don't have anything to worry about. I'll show you how to access my mind the same way I accessed yours. Ken-sama and Maya-san, however, will need to go through the normal channels, so to speak. I'll be there to greet you as well."

The two Japanese witches shared a glance before turning back to the young Battle Mage.

"What is it exactly that you are suggesting, Potter-san?" Ken asked, folding her hands together.

Harry shrugged at the question, taking his double by the shoulders once again. "I just figured, fair is fair after all. You stood up for me with the others and more or less vouched for me. Your first apprentice stood up to me and demonstrated that she is both trustworthy, and incredibly brave and wise, and loyal to... well to someone that I might have been had circumstances been different. The very least I can do is show you the same trust that my twin here shows you, and answer some of your lingering questions in the process, I hope."

"I was referring to your method of access that allowed you entrance to my student's mind, and will apparently allow him the same access to yours," Ken clarified.

"Oh," Harry blushed, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand in embarrassment. "Well, fairs fair. The reason that I accessed Harry's mind here is simply because I am him. I am Harry Potter. He is Harry Potter. He is me, I am him. Get it?"

All three of them stared at him, utterly perplexed, before glancing back at each other and looking back at him to reply, "No!"

Sighing, Harry let go of his double's shoulder and started pacing back and forth a bit.

"OK," he finally said, "This is... _very_ hard to explain out loud. Makes a lot more sense in my head, especially since I already understand it I suppose. Anyway, it's a very _Existentialistic_ concept. Uh, you do know what existentialism is, right?"

Ken and Maya both nodded, but Harry just stared with a dull look in his eyes, blinking very slowly. The visiting Harry let out a heavier sigh and hung his head. "Text book definition, without going into more history than any of us really want to go into, existentialism is basically a philosophy, or belief, that human consciousness is an act of intention, rather than of circumstance. What that means can be summed up with five little words; 'I think, therefore I am.' Existentialism is also a very... _free_ branch of philosophy itself, so when you say existentialism to identify it as a study of philosophy, it would be more accurate to say existentialism_s_."

"What I meant, when I said that this is an existentialistic concept, I was referring to the existentialistic philosophy, more hypothesis really, that states that everything is interconnected. Everything. Period. Mind, body, soul, food, animals, plants, trees, stone, elements, sun, space, moon, stars, mountains, buildings, people both muggle and magical, every single one of them are connected to each other. And because they are connected, they _are_ each other."

"Huh?!" the younger wizard exclaimed.

Harry waved off the question. "That's not important, and I'm not trying to sell you on becoming an Existentialist. The concept that allows me into your mind the same way that Maya has access to you mind is _because_ we _are_ the same person. I am Harry James Potter. You are Harry James Potter. We have the exact same DNA, we have the exact same brainwave patterns and other physiological signs of life. We even have the same past and most of the same memories. We have very similar, though not identical thoughts. Even our magical cores are largely the same. One could therefore argue that we are the same person."

"Ooohh-kay..."

"And I was going to wait to tell you this so only you know it, because it's kind of scary the story I'm about to reveal..." he trailed off, giving not so subtle looks to Ken and Maya.

Maya rolled her eyes while Ken stared intently at the dimensional visitor. Finally, she seemed to come to a decision and merely nodded her head at the visitor. "Very well then, Potter-san. I will look forward to your answers. Let us know when you wish us to rejoin you."

"Sensei, Sis," Harry said, stopping them before they could leave. He turned to his 'dimensional twin'. "This is the second time you are asking my teacher to leave," he said, trying his best not to come across as 'aggressive', and get himself toasted. "I have trusted, and still trust, both of them with my life." He didn't need to hint at the addition of … and that's a whole lot more than I trust you at the moment.

The other Harry stared back and forth between the three magic-users for a few seconds before speaking.

"I'm only going to ask this once," he said, speaking to Ken in a serious tone of voice that they had not yet heard from him. "Do you know what 'S-Class Secret' refers to?"

Ken blinked, while Maya actually startled, while Harry looked on, confused.

"This is an S-Class Secret that I found out about by accident and even now that I know what it is and am willing to show it to another, I still wish I had never found out about it, because of the consequences that came about from learning it," he continued in the serious tone. "If you remain, which I have no overall objection to, you must all swear absolute secrecy and never seek confirmation for yourselves, do you understand?"

Ken nodded her understanding, while Maya was still just a little stunned. Ken then asked, "May I inquire how it is that you know of the S-Class rank and it's meaning to my people?"

"S-Class is a spy term, Ken-sama," he stated with finality. "Ninjas, and as a result your entire Intelligence network, are spies. For the moment, I will trust you, simply because my double trusts you, and knowing myself as I do, you would only have that if you had earned it."

"Thank you," Ken merely said in honest appreciation, while Maya just sent him her silent appreciation.

"Now... what's the big secret?" Harry asked his double, more than a little annoyed at his behavior. He was done letting people push him around, especially if the person doing the pushing was himself.

"The reason I know about this concept and this connection is because I found it a number of years ago, during my training," the Battle Mage quickly explained to his Wizard counterpart. "I was meditating, reaching for and working to control the core of my magic. I was following the paths of energy when I discovered a link that seemed to disappear into nothingness, like a fishing line disappearing into the water of a lake that you cannot see through."

"I followed it further, and then I 'dipped my head' through the 'waters surface', so to speak. I found out that that link... was to alternate versions of myself, and it wasn't just two-way or one-way. The most intricate spiderweb ever created couldn't come close to being like what I found that day. Shortly after that experience, my teacher, the Time Mage I mentioned earlier, told me about the Ancients Mirror, the one that we used to come to your universe here."

"Why is that at all important?" Harry had to ask.

"Because it's how I gained access to your mind. And how you will gain access to mine. It's also why I looked like the ghost of a color-blind knight, because I was connecting to your mind, but because your mind was protecting itself, I was kept at the fringes of your mindscape, and it took a few tricks I learned to get as far as I did, but you could still detect me. Furthermore, if either of us wanted, it would be how we would gain access to the minds and souls of _other_ Harry Potters," he warned.

Gulping at the implications, Harry then asked, "Well, why were you being so short with Ken-sensei and Maya-sempai? You were almost throwing them out!"

"Because of curiosity, and how much it likes to kill kitties."

"HUH?"

"Now you understand why this is an S-Class Secret! If anyone but those trustworthy enough to know about this knew _how_ to do it, it could be a disaster! They'd get curious and eventually delve so far into their core that they'd find what I had found and then go looking around!" he shouted out loud. "THINK Harry, _think_! Ken-sama found you _by chance_! When you were having a nightmare while she was _meditating_! If she decides to start going around and checking up on alternate versions of herself, or of us or Maya or even her Emperor?! That's a can of worms that does not even need to be taken off the shelf, let alone opened up, Harry!"

"You've all sworn to reveal this secret to no one. If you do... well, I'll let the consequences speak for themselves," he gave them one final warning, whispering to himself, "I had to..."

Both Ken and Maya fully acknowledged their oaths and repeated them before vanishing from the mindscape. "I understand. Now," Harry sighed, acknowledging to himself the potential consequences of this secret getting out, "how do I access this... existential connection between the two of us?"

Nodding, Harry lead him towards the Castle, explaining, "Here, let me show you..."

_Five Minutes Later_

_Universe Mahou_mo_Ken_1.5_

_4-In-1-Harry's Mindscape_

"Wh-where are we?"

The question had been asked by young Harry Potter, student of Mahou Mo Ken, and it had been directed at his dimensional counterpart, whose mind he just entered. Supposedly his teacher and magical sister, were already 'here' in the other Harry Potter's mind, but all he saw was complete and utter blackness. Not even the kind of black that you get when you close your eyes or stare into a dark room, because then biology works so you see bits of color and light just about everywhere. But this was a blackness of the mind, no biology to tell you that you aren't in the middle of an abyss.

"My mind," came the predictable reply. After all, it's how Harry would've given it, had the situations been reversed.

"Rather dark in here, isn't it?" he sarcastically retorted.

He heard the other Harry chuckle, that's when he finally looked and saw that he could see the other Harry, once more in that crazy armor outfit, standing there like the sun was shining down right on him. Looking down at himself, Harry saw that it was the same with him.

"Try looking up," the armored Harry pointed.

Harry did so, and his jaw promptly dropped open in shock, his eyes wide in awe, "Wh-wh-what the...?"

He was looking at a solar system. Not _the_ Solar System, _a_ solar system, that consisted of a very large central yellow star, with four planets slowly revolving around it. Unlike with a real solar system however, the four planets were all on the exact same track, equidistant from each other, from the star, and moving in the same direction at the same speed. There were no moons, no asteroids, and something to explain the darkness, no stars either. Each of the planets rotated, but again at the exact same speed, and unlike the Earth that was tilted on the axis upon which it rotated, each of them were perfect spheres that rotated like ball bearings upon a needle point.

Each planet was unique, despite all the similar qualities that designated their place around the sun. The first one to draw Harry's attention was the one that looked perfectly like Earth, right down to the placement of the continents, though... England _did_ look much larger from his point of view than it probably was in real life. The next one to catch his eye was another blue-green world, though the continents were nothing that he recognized. He also had a feeling that this one, while still inaccurate, was a bit better proportioned.

The last two were very different from the other two though. For starters, there was one that almost looked like a cross between Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Earth, mixed together into one giant battlefield! The other was almost completely dark, except for the side the faced the sun, and Harry could see that there were giant cities all across the surface, and on the dark side there were twinkling lights, giving reason to believe that the entire planet was just one huge city!

"Wh-w-w-w-WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?!" Harry shouted out loud.

Instantly, Ken and Maya were by the sides of the two Harry's, appearing out of nowhere via the instantaneous method of travel capable in the mind. They were still looking around confused, and apparently still had not looked up, as both women approached their Harry, concerned by his outburst.

"Harry? What happened? . . . Why are you looking up?" Maya asked in a rush, before trailing off.

Ken, seeing that her second apprentice was neither injured, nor being attacked, turned her attention to their current host. "This is an impressive defense," she said to him. "If one cannot see anything once they have breeched your mind, then they believe they have failed, or that you have no mind and give up. A good way of avoiding unnecessary conflict. However, you did invite us here, so if you might, please, remove the veil?"

Harry smirked, though he was actually smiling, it came out as a smirk.

"I already let you past the outer defenses, Ken-sama. All that's left at this stage are the internal defenses. And I thank you for your opinion, but there is no veil, and I'm not preventing you from seeing my mindscape at all. Though it might interest you to know just how many people are fooled when they see a black emptiness inside my mind and assume either superior mental skill, or the opposite and that my head is empty and I'm an idiot. But I'll tell you what I've already told young Harry here," he then pointed, "Look up."

They did so, and even Ken showed astonishment, while Maya more clearly resembled her magical brother in reactions. "Wh-what is this?" the first apprentice of Mahou Mo Ken whispered in awe.

"My mind," Harry replied easily. "From a safe distance of course. Reason being is because of the way that I gained my Mental Skills, I sort of combined my magical core into my mindscape, and any... we'll call it cosmic radiation for this particular instant, is actually some of my magic, and it could adversely affect you without proper protection, hence, safe distance, and you get to see pretty much the whole picture too."

"Your... mind, is a solar system?" Maya stated.

Harry nodded.

"How... how is that even possible?" his twin wanted to know.

Harry started to shrug, then stopped himself.

"It's complicated, and not easy to explain with words," he began. "Remember our earlier talk, about our differences?"

Harry, standing between Ken and Maya, nodded his head.

"Remember me saying that I'm actually four Harry Potter's in one? Not in those exact words, but..."

Harry nodded his head again, then frowned and asked, "How does that work again? You explained it once, the basics anyway, about how the Time Mage split you off and then put you back together again after the different parts received magical training, but _how_ could..."

"That doesn't matter," Harry waved off the question he could sense coming, and he wasn't willing to answer _that_ question just yet. "Point is, each of those planets up there? They're actually individual mindscapes, crafted for each of my four parts. The world they each is most accustomed to, as well as where all of their memories, skills, knowledge, and power reside."

"So the planets house the four that made you?" Ken asked.

Wincing, Harry shook his head, "No, not exactly. Sorry, I wasn't being clear. The four that you speak of are actually a part of me. It would be like separating aspects of yourself based on roles, skills, or titles that you possess. You're still you, and no matter how you divide yourself up, that will always be true. So no, there aren't other mini-me's running around on each of the planets. They just house the knowledge, memories, and individual powers. Like with your Harry's mindscape," he gestured at the other Harry, "he compartmentalizes certain things. You have the training field and outside of the castle where you work with Ken-sama and Maya-san. Then you probably have a couple of rooms inside the castle that only you can access, where precious memories, or defenses, or even the Parselmouth ability are stored and sorted out, right?"

He shrugged, and gestured up at the planets. "Same thing, only I use planets instead of rooms."

Ken nodded, understanding what he was saying. "And what of you? What of your own accomplishments, memories, and powers? Those unique to yourself? Or are you just the sum of your parts?"

Harry grinned openly at her, then pointed again, this time at something very specific. "My personal mindscape, where all things precious to me are located and stored... is inside the sun. In fact, you could even say that it _is_ the sun."

Even Ken was impressed by that, as her two apprentices looked up to stare at the sight in awe once more.

"Care for a tour?" Harry offered.

"Sure!" Harry and Maya enthusiastically accepted.

Instantly, all four of them were surrounded by a clear, yet solid bubble and moving through the space of Harry's mindscape so fast that it looked as if the planets were rushing at them like giant bullets fired from a gun! They zeroed in on the Earth-like planet first, specifically Northern half of the British Isles, Scotland to be more specific, until a _very_ familiar castle came into view.

It was almost like being back in the first Harry's mindscape again, until said Harry noticed a few details that he did not have in his own Hogwarts mindscape. A few other things, such as the flags flying over each of the towers and the presence of Hogsmeade, details of the Forbidden Forest, and even the Giant Squid were also evidence that this mindscape was very different from his own. They flew around in the clear bubble for a few circuits around the school grounds as their host explained a few things.

"This is what I like to call, my Gryffindor mindscape. Detail-perfect Hogwarts, thanks to reading the Marauder's Map so often during my time there. Also have a few memories stored in the presence of either a location, an animal, or something or other. For example, I've got the Chamber of Secrets, complete with Basilisk, an Aragog and a bunch of spiders out in the Forest, and the Shrieking Shack is haunted by the memories of that night playing over like ghosts doing a scene from a movie over and over again. Reason for making this a planet instead of just one big snow globe, is because I've also got a London, complete with Diagon Alley, a Burrow in St. Catchpole, and even a Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging. Sadly, I didn't really do much traveling beyond that."

"Anyway, moving on," he shifted moods suddenly and they were speeding away now to the next planet in orbit, which just happened to be the second blue-green world with continents nothing like Earth at all.

"This," he explained as they breeched the atmosphere and approached a coastline city, "Is what I like to call my Ravenclaw mind, or to be more accurate, Living Circle mindscape. Remember those two institutions that had reputations equal to Hogwarts, where I learned magecraft? Well, this," he gestured at the coastline city, or cities actually, as there was one major population center and then a short distance away was a walled area that looked to be a temple with winding circular paths, but was as much a city as the first, "is Winding Circle Temple, just outside of Summersea, capitol city of Emelan. And this..."

Suddenly the landscape was flashing by beneath them and they came to a much larger city, the center of which seemed to be a castle just as grand and majestic as Hogwarts when it was first created. "... This is Lightsbridge Academy. Spent four years here studying aspects of magic that make NEWT-courses at Hogwarts look like Pre-school lessons. Not better mind you, just different... but infinitely more involved. Moving on!"

They launched out of the atmosphere and quickly moved on to the city-planet.

They orbited at the equator of the planet and went low enough to identify unbelievably tall skyscrapers and buildings and other structures that boggled the imagination. "We can't stay here for too long," he whispered, "Seeing as this particular planet holds the memories and skills that are associated with my Spy Magic. The city isn't the actual world, which should actually look like a cross between the other two Earth-like planets over there. The city is actually automated defenses, put in place by the aspect of my mind that underwent training to be a magical spy. Hence, why I call this the Slytherin Mindscape, given that it's my untrustworthy, suspicious, and power-hungry aspect of myself."

"_Slytherin_?!" Harry blurted out, shocked that this other him admitted to having anything to do with that sort of thing! Unfortunately, he'd spoken a little loud when he did so, and they all noticed how several 'buildings' very quickly turned into automated turrets and missile silos, all aimed right at them.

"Moving on!" the Harry controlling the clear bubble accelerated it away even faster, as several _nuclear_ weapons detonated in their wake!

"And finally, Hufflepuff World," their tour guide sighed in relief as they entered the cloudy atmosphere of the the battlefield-covered planet. "Also known as where the majority of my Battle Magic learning experiences are stored, mostly by recreating individual battles that I've had throughout my life."

"Wait, you associate your Battle Mage title with... _Hufflepuff_?!" his twin exclaimed, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, so?" Harry looked back, confused about why this would be a question.

"Uh, nothing, it's just, well... none of the Hufflepuffs that _I_ know are particularly... well, they're not the warrior type, if you know what I mean," he lamely replied.

"Are you sure about that?" he was asked. "Think about it for a second. What would you be willing to do for a friend, a true friend? When you give your loyalty to someone, aren't you then willing to do almost anything for them, to do whatever they say, or even do something for their sake?" Harry shrugged at them as he took them over several rather spectacular battles, between shades of 'himself' and armies of monsters, demons, or even other spell casters and human warriors.

"I made this decision, to have myself split apart, in order to gain more power yes, but also because I had been told that I would have _friends_ in the future. Friends that would suffer if I didn't do something to stop it. I also gained more friends this way, not just at Hogwarts, but across several dimensions! Trust me, a Hufflepuff fighting for their friend is scarier than a hundred Gryffindors and Slytherins working together."

They were silent for a time, as Harry finished the 'tour' of his mind, and then took them, though much slower than before, towards the central sun. Or, more accurately, the extremely small moon that had just appeared directly above it. He took them to the dark side of the moon, but once they were settled, they suddenly found themselves standing in a forest clearing, not far from a stream and surrounded by tall trees, with a yellow sun shining normally down on them from the noon position.

"Temporary mindscape, useful for conversations between minds when you don't want to get intimate," Harry explained at their surprised looks. "You have questions, I'm here to answer them."

"Thank you," Ken nodded her head. "I am curious, what are you going to do now?"

Harry shrugged. "For the time being, focus on Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's training. Maybe take a couple of classes, in Runes and Arithmancy maybe. You know, a couple of those courses that I missed out on. Beyond that... I'm winging it."

"And what of your dislike for Dumbledore and Snape?" Ken then asked him.

He shrugged again, looking off into the distance, where it just so happened after-images of both men being hanged or otherwise executed were fading away. "I'll live with it," he finally said. "I won't start any trouble, that's for certain, but I'll finish it if it comes my way. Why do you ask?"

"I am sure both of them would be trouble for you and your friends at some point, as Snape has an unwarranted hatred for all things named Potter, but Dumbledore, I have noticed, has a similar compulsion to meddle in things that are best left alone. For as long as I am here, seeing the trust you have placed in me this day, I would be willing to support you in any... struggles that may come up between you or them."

"I appreciate that, Mahou Mo Ken-sama," Harry bowed even with his waist.

"Please, you may call me Ken, Potter-san," she returned the bow.

"Harry, then," he replied back. She merely nodded in acceptance.

"Now then, how about I show off for a little while," Harry laughed and spent the rest of the time showing off all of his abilities and new powers. Short of opening his Gate, that is.

Next Time on _4 In 1 To ∞_:

Harry and his friends stick around for a while, learning and training and getting to know their hosts and dimensional doubles. Unfortunately, all is not well, as it is announced that Mahou Mo Ken and Maya must return to Japan soon, and things only get worse as the local Voldemort and his Death Eaters attack Hogsmeade once more, and this time they're out for revenge for past transgressions!

What does it mean for young Harry Potter when his mentor and sister have to leave so soon?

What will 4-In-1 Harry do about his friends' training?

How will two Harry Potters deal with an unexpected Death Eater Attack, even with all their training?

What will happen during the battle?

The answers to these questions and more, hopefully, next month in _4 In 1 To ∞ _Chapter 3: First Test!


	3. ReWrite!

This Story Will Be Re-Written!

My sincerest apologies to anyone and everyone that was waiting on this story to be updated. To be quite honest about it, I feel that my writing has developed leagues beyond what I had put down here originally, and at the same time I've quite simply lost my inspiration for wherever I was originally going with this story. Therefore, I have decided to end this where it stands. If I ever find the inspiration for this yet again, I'll be sure to let everyone know where and what kind of rewrite I'll be posting. Thanks for your loyal support, and again, my sincerest apologies for making you wait to hear from me regarding this fanfic.

Be sure to check out my newly designated "Home Page" at (minus the 'dots');

http ficsite com/viewuser php?uid=68

Thanks For Your Reviews!

-Joshua "The Evil Guy"-


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